A memorandum of understanding (MOU) has been signed between South African biopharmaceutical manufacturer Biovac and Korea-based vaccine-maker EuBiologics for the technology transfer of a meningococcal meningitis pentavalent shot – the disease being endemic in South Africa.
Biovac said there was a high unmet medical need in the meningitis belt of sub-Saharan Africa – which stretches from Senegal in the west to Ethiopia in the east – where there are new circulating serotypes of the bacterium Neisseria meningitides that causes meningococcal disease. Serotypes are distinct variations within a species of bacteria or virus.
Biovac CEO Morena Makhoana said the partnership was a boost to the local vaccine manufacturing sector, and to skills and technology development in the industry, reports News24.
“This is an important step towards achieving the African Union’s goal of producing 60% of the vaccines used on the continent by 2040,” he said.
The collaboration would also transfer, to this country, the skills, know-how and technology needed to produce the pentavalent vaccine – a combination medicine with five individual vaccines combined into one.
“As South Africa usually imports vaccines, exporting would allow for closing the trade deficit,” he added.
The shot would be entirely liquid, allowing for ease of use as it would not require reconstitution.
Anyone can get meningococcal meningitis, but rates are highest in children younger than one and in adolescence.
EuBiologics CEO Baik Yeong-Ok said this was the beginning of a collaboration between the two companies.
The vaccine is still undergoing clinical trials and Biovac has not yet begun production.
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