In line with Africa's goal of boosting local vaccine production, South African pharma company Biovac inked deals with Sanofi and EuBiologics to produce and distribute much-needed shots on the continent.
Through its Sanofi collaboration, Biovac will be the first African producer of inactivated polio vaccines (IPV). Sanofi will still produce drug material for the vaccines while Biovac will hold marketing authorizations and be responsible for late-stage formulation, filling, packaging and delivery of “millions of doses” to UNICEF for Gavi countries across Africa.
Sanofi has already supplied the world and UNICEF with more than 1.5 billion doses of its IPV vaccine through Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. The company is a long-time partner of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, which has immunized 2.5 billion children against polio over the last 30 years. The efforts led to a 99% reduction in polio cases worldwide but many routine pediatric vaccination programs were disrupted during the pandemic, Sanofi’s executive vice president of vaccines, Thomas Triomphe, said in a press release.
“Catching up will be key to preventing a rise in cases in many countries worldwide and this Sanofi partnership with Biovac is a step in that direction,” Triomphe added. “Establishing this manufacturing partnership now, ahead of time, is key to enabling Biovac’s manufacturing capabilities for future international tenders.”
Biovac, for its part, is “very proud” of the partnership, CEO Morena Makhoana, M.D., added in a statement.
Meanwhile, the company also linked up with South Korean vaccine maker EuBiologics to finalize a technology transfer for a fully liquid meningococcal pentavalent conjugate vaccine, Korean Biomedical Review reports. The duo had previously entered into a memorandum of understanding last year.
Biovac will use the license to supply the vaccine in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in the meningitis belt which extends from Senegal to Ethiopia. EuBiologics aims to supply 10 million doses annually following the vaccine’s expected 2029 launch.
The EuBiologics deal was inked at the Global Forum for Vaccine Sovereignty and Innovation in Paris. Elsewhere at the forum, Gavi, the African Union and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) debuted the African Vaccine Manufacturing Accelerator (AVMA).
AVMA is a financing mechanism designed to make up to $1 billion available over the next 10 years to boost the “commercially viable vaccine manufacturing in Africa,” according to a Gavi press release. The goal is to leverage incentives to help manufacturers with the initial cost of development and production.
Biovac’s deals and the new AVMA initiative will help toward the African Union’s goal of producing at least 60% of the continent’s required vaccines locally by 2040.