BioNTech, a leading biotechnology company, laid a foundation stone for the construction of the first manufacturing site for mRNA-based vaccines in Africa, expected to address the issue of vaccine equity.
The facility in Rwanda’s capital city Kigali will be based on BioNTainer concept, exact replications of the BioNTech factory in Marburg, Germany, according to Ugur Sahin, the chief executive officer and co-founder of BioNTech.
At an event in Rwanda’s Special Economic Zone in Kigali, Sahin described the groundbreaking ceremony as a milestone in the setting up of scalable mRNA vaccine production in Africa.
We have reached the next milestone with the construction start of the first African mRNA manufacturing facility based on our BioNTainers – just four months after we introduced the BioNTainer concept in February,” he said.
“This factory will be the first in an African network to provide sustainable production capacity for mRNA pharmaceuticals. Further manufacturing facilities in Africa and on other continents are planned to follow.
“The goal we pursue together with governments and regulatory authorities is to produce vaccines for Africa here with highly skilled professionals from Africa,” he added.
The company’s programme aims to develop a highly effective malaria vaccine based on BioNTech’s mRNA platform with the vaccine candidates expected to enter first-in-human trials later this year, according to Sahin.
“The Covid-19 pandemic exposed the need for significantly greater local production of vaccines and other essential products in all regions of the world, especially in Africa which relies heavily on imported products and was left behind in the global rush for Covid-19 vaccines,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the World Health Organization (WHO) director-general.
“I welcome BioNTech’s efforts to establish manufacturing sites in Rwanda, Senegal and South Africa, as well as its plans to commence clinical trials of its malaria vaccine candidates later this year,” he said.
Source: IOL
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