Accords

Biovac

The Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) and Biovac have signed an agreement that will allow the South African biotechnology company to receive the mRNA vaccine manufacturing technology developed by Afrigen at research and development scale. The 19 million USD grant will cover the work from 2022 to 2026. As part of the consortium, and through a hub and spoke model, the project aims to boost the vaccine manufacturing capacity of low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) to respond more equitably to COVID-19 and future pandemics.The Covid-19 vaccine mRNA technology will be developed by Afrigen at small scale and transferred to Biovac. The signing of the agreement means that equipment procurement and facility modifications can start to ensure that Biovac is ready to receive the technology once developed by Afrigen.   As a vaccine manufacturer with GMP production and vaccine product development experience Biovac looks forward to playing it’s part within the hub and advancing mRNA vaccine product develop capability in Africa to serve the world.   We are responsible for the scale up of the mRNA technology and the manufacture of product for the phase III clinical trial in South Africa. The scaled-up technology package will be transferred back to Afrigen and MPP for transfer to identified manufacturing spokes across the globe.

About Biovac

Biovac is a biotechnology company that specialises in vaccine product development and aseptic vaccine manufacturing. In collaboration with the South African Government, Biovac was established in 2003 to revive local human vaccine production in Southern Africa. The company currently supplies a comprehensive range of vaccines in support of the South African Department of Health’s Expanded Programme for Immunisation. In addition to supplying millions of doses of vaccines per year, across South Africa and into some neighbouring countries, Biovac has recently entered into partnership with Pfizer and BioNTech to manufacture their Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine for distribution within the African Union. Furthermore, the company is a part of the WHO mRNA technology transfer hub programme, focussed on increasing access to mRNA vaccines in LMICs to ensure greater access to mRNA vaccines in future pandemics.  As a member of the mRNA technology hubprogramme, Biovac is responsible for scaling up the technology from Afrigen and achieving licensure for the product in South Africa.