Global interest in manufacturing in Africa has been slowly increasing in recent months — and has caught the attention of The Serum Institute of India, the world's largest vaccine maker.
The biotech company, which supplies products for many global health initiatives on the continent, told Yahoo Finance it's mulling the idea.
"Maybe Ghana and Rwanda are two countries we are looking at. Maybe even South Africa, but you've got great companies in South Africa that can make vaccines as well," CEO Adar Poonawalla said in a recent interview.
Indeed, South Africa has been a standout throughout the coronavirus pandemic, both for its genomic sequencing of variants as well as its governmental efforts to stand up to inequitable distribution of vaccines.
Yet despite the best efforts by some of the world's largest public health entities, the world has been unable to curb the trajectory of the pandemic in any meaningful way in developing countries. And the threat of future strains is creating even more concern for yet-unvaccinated regions.
The Serum Institute was supposed to play a crucial role by providing Oxford/AstraZeneca (AZN) doses to the world, but it had to pivot to domestic distribution at the behest of the Indian government amid a devastating Delta wave in spring of 2021.
The export ban, which was supposed to last two months ended in October — and in the interim African and Latin American countries were left to fend for themselves.
Some countries turned to Russian or Chinese vaccines, while others turned to Pfizer (PFE)/BioNTech(BNTX). Pressure mounted on European countries and the U.S. to donate doses as well. But even that was done slowly and imperfectly.
This resulted in angry calls for action in Africa, and some tangible results have followed — though not in time to prevent recent waves.
The most notable outcome is South Africa's Afrigen, which announced a breakthrough in producing an mRNA vaccine. The World Health Organization-backed endeavor is now licensing the technology to six other African countries.
Big pharmaceutical companies and major COVID-19 players, like Pfizer, BioNTech, Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) and Moderna (MRNA) have all shown interest in working more closely with African countries.
Pfizer and BioNTech created a fill-finish relationship with South Africa's Biovac Institute, which should produce its first doses by the second half of 2022. BioNTech also separately built mobile manufacturing units to send to Rwanda, Senegal and possibly South Africa. Moderna announced an intent to partner with some entity on the African continent.
In addition, Johnson & Johnson conducted clinical trials for its COVID-19 vaccine in South Africa. And, after facing local pressure, it diverted its production in South Africa to the continent instead of exporting it to Europe and elsewhere.
Sharpening responses
While Poonawalla says he has not yet decided on following suit with a physical plant, he plans to restore the damaged relationships with the African countries that have existed for decades.
The vaccine giant is already investing in partnerships to expand its manufacturing elsewhere, including a $68 million deal with U.K.'s Oxford Biomedica and a 15% stake in India's Biocon.
The company is also venturing into the mRNA space, and the company has been identified among the strongest contenders in developing countries for mRNA production.
But Poonawalla remains cautious. "I think as time goes one, we'll see our investment in messenger RNA first proving itself in India, and then maybe we expand in other countries," he said.
He pointed to the newness of the technology as a reason for caution.
All the countries that took the messenger RNA vaccines, have shown a decline in immunity, he said, and have required multiple boosters.
"I'm actually a big fan of the traditional technology in vaccines...I'm still not sold and convinced on messenger RNA. Although I'm not ruling it out, we've made investments in that technology, and maybe in two years we're looking at leveraging that platform to make vaccines," Poonawalla said.
Follow Anjalee on Twitter @AnjKhem
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