The plasmid is probably unavailable because it has been identified as a “dual use technology” or one having both commercial and military or proliferation applications. This determination was made by the U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”), in conjunction with The Australia Group (an international consortium that seeks to ensure that member countries’ exports do not contribute to the development of chemical or biological weapons ). Therefore, this plasmid cannot be exported without first obtaining an export license from the applicable regulatory body, in Addgene’s case, BIS.
Export Licenses are specific to your organization, and in some instances, to your individual lab. If you are still interested in obtaining VSV-G and/or SARS-CoV-1 plasmids,* please contact our export team at export@addgene.org who will ask you to provide information regarding your organization, users and intended use for application purposes.
PLEASE NOTE: The BIS export license application and review process generally takes 4-5 weeks and Addgene has no control over whether a license is granted or not. Please take this into consideration if you have other non-controlled materials that you wish to order. You may wish to place a separate order for non-controlled materials.
*Addgene’s export license service is currently in beta. At this time, only VSV-G and SARS-CoV-1 plasmids are being made available under this service.