• 24 Jun 2024
• Admin
• News Article

Sanofi and Biovac Spearhead Polio Vaccine Manufacturing Capabilities in Africa

Overview

Sanofi and Biovac, a Cape Town, South Africa-based biopharmaceutical company, announce their local manufacturing partnership to produce inactivated polio vaccines (IPV) in Africa. This agreement is designed to enable regional manufacturing of polio vaccines to serve the potential needs of over 40 African countries. This partnership with Sanofi makes Biovac the first African producer of IPV on and for the African continent and supports the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s ambition to have 60 percent of local vaccines produced in Africa by 2040.

Words from Executive Vice President: Sanofi

Thomas Triomphe, executive vice president, Vaccines, Sanofi, said: “For 40 years, Sanofi has supplied billions of polio vaccine doses globally, supporting the world getting close to polio eradication. But with the Covid-19 pandemic, many routine paediatric vaccination programs were halted or disrupted. Catching up will be key to preventing a rise in cases in many countries worldwide and this Sanofi partnership with Biovac is a step in that direction. Establishing this manufacturing partnership now, ahead of time, is key to enabling Biovac’s manufacturing capabilities for future international tenders.”

Words from CEO: Biovac

Dr Morena Makhoana, chief executive officer, Biovac, said: “We are very proud of this partnership with Sanofi, which will empower Biovac as an African manufacturer to champion polio eradication on and for the continent by bringing manufacturing of IPV doses closer to people needs.”

Sanofi with Global Polio Eradication Initiative

• Sanofi has been a critical partner of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative since 1988 and has supplied the world and UNICEF with more than 1.5 billion doses of IPV through GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance. 
• It aims to vaccinate the populations of more than 70 of the poorest countries on the planet with the aim to eradicate polio.

IPV by Sanofi

Sanofi will continue to produce the bulk of IPV and Biovac, who will hold the marketing authorization, will be responsible for late-stage formulation, filling, packaging, and delivery of millions of IPV doses to UNICEF for GAVI countries in Africa.

Biovac

• Biovac is a leading biotechnology company and a Centre of Excellence, rooted in Africa, specializing in the development and manufacture of vaccines and other biologicals for Africa and beyond. 
• In collaboration with the South African government, Biovac was established in 2003 to revive local human vaccine development and manufacturing capability in Southern Africa.

About Polio

• Polio is a highly contagious disease which mainly affects children under five years of age, who suffer the highest burden of temporary or permanent paralysis and death. 
• Polio is an incurable infection that can only be prevented through immunization. 
• Infected individuals shed the polio virus in the environment through fecal matter, or through the droplets from a sneeze or cough of an infected person, for several weeks. 
• Almost 90 percent of infected people have no symptoms or very mild symptoms that usually remain undetected. 
• In others, initial symptoms include fever, fatigue, headache, vomiting, aching muscles, stiffness in the neck and pain in the limbs. 
• One in 200 infections leads to irreversible paralysis.

Global Immunization

• Over the last 30 years, under the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), 2.5 billion children have been immunized against polio resulting in a 99 percent reduction in the number of cases worldwide. 
• At the end of 2023, polio was endemic in only two countries (Afghanistan and Pakistan). 
• As a result of the global effort to eradicate the disease, almost 20 million people have been saved from paralysis.

About Sanofi

Sanofi is an innovative global healthcare company, driven by one purpose: we chase the miracles of science to improve people’s lives.