Two EU bodies will fund BioNTech with up to $110m to help build its mRNA vaccine factory in Kigali, Rwanda, which is designed to locally supply vaccines to Africa, reports Endpoints News.
The Germany-headquartered vaccine maker will get a grant of up to $40m from the European Commission, starting with an initial $15m payment, and the rest of the funding subject to milestones.
The company also has the option of a $69m loan from the European Investment Bank.
BioNTech has not released details on how it will use that funding.
The Kigali facility has been in the works since 2022, and will manufacture clinical-stage mRNA vaccines for malaria, TB, HIV and mpox. The products will then be sent to local partners for filling and packaging.
The site could potentially become the first commercial-scale mRNA vaccine site in Africa,.
The site will use BioNTech’s mRNA vaccine manufacturing units, dubbed “BioNTainers”, which are made up of six blocks the size of large shipping containers. Two BioNTainers are needed to make vaccines: the first one makes the drug substance, and the second makes the drug product, according to a BioNTech fact sheet.
BioNTech shipped the first BioNTainer to the Kigali factory in March 2023, after breaking ground on the site in June 2022. There have been no details on whether the second BioNTainer unit has been shipped.
Last May, BioNTech received $145m from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) to support its Kigali site. And last June, Africa received an infusion of funding with the launch of the African Vaccine Manufacturing Accelerator.
The EU pledged $872m to that programme, while the US also committed $1.58bn over the next five years to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.
Other vaccine makers, Emergent BioSolutions and Bavarian Nordic, also ramped up supply of their smallpox and mpox vaccines to Africa last year to help curb the mpox disease outbreaks.
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Landmark deal jumpstarts Africa’s vaccine production
Development Bank investment to help Africa make its own medicines
Africa needs to strengthen readiness for public health threats
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