SOUTH AFRICA – Technology enterprise Siemens has partnered with South African pharmaceutical company Aspen to enable faster and more efficient vaccine production while ensuring consistent product quality in Africa.
Siemens will provide Aspen Pharmacare with digital technologies to increase vaccine production capacity to meet the rising demands for COVID-19 vaccines on the African continent.
It will provide enhanced production execution, product tracking, central management of the entire production network as well as introduce additional energy monitoring devices, flow instruments and temperature sensors.
Aspen is a leading global specialty and branded multinational pharmaceutical company in both emerging and developed markets.
It has improved the health of patients in more than 150 countries through its high quality, affordable and effective healthcare solutions.
The collaboration will also include training and development of skills for the effective maintenance of Aspen’s facility in Gqeberha in the Eastern Region of South Africa.
In addition, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) has commissioned Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft (DEG) to finance the establishment of home-grown vaccine manufacturing capacities.
The develoPPP programme of the German Government will invest additional funds in digital technologies to enable faster and efficient vaccine production including consistent product quality in Africa.
The joint project will strengthen the global competitiveness of the South African pharmaceutical industry and improve the continent’s resilience against other diseases and future pandemics.
Aspen is in the process of licensing the rights for the first African COVID-19 vaccines which it will launch as Aspenovax before mid-year.
Chief Executive Officer for Siemens Southern & Eastern Africa Sabine Dall’Omo explained, “With the company’s innovative Digital Twin simulation, the production environment will be kept up to date to be leveraged in determining the impact of strategic improvement initiatives.”
The full scope of supply is aimed at improving efficiency to reduce wastage of valuable vaccine doses while introducing energy management to minimize carbon emissions.
“The project demonstrates how our digital technologies can benefit society as the collaboration will accelerate the development of vaccines thereby reducing time to market while maintaining quality to save lives,” assured the Chief Executive Officer.
In addition, the partnership will further complement Aspen’s existing quality pharmaceutical equipment and systems used to manufacture advanced sterile medicines such as vaccines for the continent.
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