Tag: Manufacturing

New consortium working to boost vaccine production in South Africa

Frank

SOUTH AFRICA – The World Health Organization (WHO), together with a few other concerned organizations have formed a consortium, officiated by a letter of intent to address the global imbalance of manufacturing capacity for COVID-19 vaccines. The consortium, consisting of the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP), Afrigen Biologics (PTY) Limited, the Biologicals and Vaccines Institute of Southern Africa (Biovac), the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) and Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), will establish the South African mRNA technology transfer hub. This hub will allow for greater…

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BioNTech to channel COVID-19 profits toward developing new Malaria and TB shots in Africa

Frank

AFRICA – BioNTech, a Covid-19 vaccine pioneer has said it will invest some of its profits from the Covid-19 vaccine it markets with Pfizer Inc. into developing shots for malaria and tuberculosis in Africa. This is part of the German based biotechnology giant plan to establish a large production hub for innovative medicines on the continent. The firm plans to build a factory in Africa and develop a manufacturing network with local partners to transfer its technology based on messenger RNA, a genetic molecule, to a continent that has suffered…

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Pfizer/BioNTech strike COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing deal with Biovac South Africa

Frank

SOUTH AFRICA – Pfizer Inc and BioNTech have entered into a deal with South Africa’s Biovac Institute to process and distribute over 100 million doses a year of their COVID-19 vaccine for the African Union starting 2022. Biovac, a public-private partnership focused on vaccine production, will receive COVID-19 vaccine drug substance made in plants in Europe, and will begin so-called fill-finish operations, the last stage of drug manufacturing and packaging, in 2022. The deal, under which the Cape Town-based Biovac Institute will fill vials of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine and ready…

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Grifols to set up intravenous (IV) solutions manufacturing plant in Nigeria

Frank

NIGERIA – Grifols, a global producer of plasma-derived medicines and provider of technologies and services, has announced it will establish an intravenous (IV) solutions production plant in Nigeria. The plant is to be set up for Dozie and Dozie’s Pharma Nig Ltd., a provider of healthcare products in the country and surrounding region. When completed in 2024 in southeast Nigeria, the manufacturing installation’s initial phase will produce as many as 5.5 million intravenous solutions bags yearly to be used in hospitals and other healthcare institutions in Nigeria and other African…

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China, Egypt mark joint production of 1M COVID-19 vaccine doses in Egypt

Frank

EGYPT – Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry commemorated a ceremony marking the joint production of 1 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine in Egypt. After China and Egypt inked a letter of intent for cooperation on COVID-19 vaccine production in December 2020, a Chinese company signed an agreement with an Egyptian firm and sent technical teams to Egypt to facilitate the local production of the vaccine. Only half a year after the signing of the agreement, the Chinese vaccine was officially put…

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Partnerships for African Vaccine Manufacturing (PAVM) makes remarkable progress just 2 months after conception

Frank

ETHIOPIA – The Africa Centers for Disease control (CDC) has recounted that the Partnerships for African Vaccine Manufacturing (PAVM) program launched in April this year has seen remarkable progress. The partnership was launched by H.E Felix Tshisekedi, Chair of the African Union and President of the Democratic Republic of Congo to expand Africa’s vaccine manufacture for health security. During the launch, strong political commitments were made to drive momentum for the African Union’s bold vision to manufacture about 60% of its vaccines on the continent by 2040, an initiative that…

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Ghana launches Covid-19 RNA rapid testing kits development and production project

Frank

GHANA – The GIZ-Ghana working in partnership with MakerSpace, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), and other partners have launched a project in Kumasi, to commence the production of COVID-19 RNA rapid test kits. The project dubbed “Development and Production of Covid-19 RNA Rapid Tests and Strengthening of Local Laboratory Capacities”, aims to enhance the response in dealing with the novel coronavirus pandemic. This would be achieved through local production of simple, sensitive, rapid, scalable, and affordable test kits for detecting Covid-19 infection. Ms Anna Voellmecke, representing the…

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Senegal to build US$8.01 million COVID-19 vaccine plant in collaboration with European Union

Frank

SENEGAL – Construction of a new plant in Senegal to manufacture COVID-19 vaccines is expected to begin later this year, and the facility should produce 25 million doses per month by the end of 2022. The Institut Pasteur in Senegal’s capital Dakar, which will run the plant, and various European development partners said the facility would help Africa reduce its dependence on vaccine imports, which currently account for 99% of its needs. “Africa currently imports 99% of its vaccines. But with today’s agreement, Team Europe is helping Senegal move one…

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Recipharm lays US$ 500 million plan for production of Moroccan vaccines

Frank

MORROCO – With the COVID-19 pandemic flagging weaknesses in the world’s pharma supply chain, contract manufacturer Recipharm is stepping up to help in Africa. King Mohammed VI has presided over a ceremony, during which he signed deals that now allow Morocco to manufacture Covid-19 vaccines and other serums. Morocco was among the world’s pioneers in vaccinating its population against Covid-19 and is now eager to start producing its own vaccines. “This project will allow us to produce the Covid vaccine, as well as other key vaccines, in our own country…

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Dawa Group rebrands to Dawa Life Sciences as it seeks ambitious regional growth

Frank

KENYA – Dawa Group has rebranded into Dawa Life Sciences, incorporating Dawa Pharmaceuticals, Dawa Animal Health and Dawa Chemicals with one big ambition to provide better quality life for all. With a footprint in 11 countries, revenues of US$60 million in 2020 from over 1,000 product lines, and supply capacity of over 110 million packs of medication, Dawa Group has a vision to become a reference for pharmaceuticals in Africa. Dawa Group has its origins in Medisel Kenya Limited which, in 1994, was founded as a pharmaceutical trading business in…

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