Aspen Pharmacare vaccines for Africa

SOUTH AFRICA – Pharmaceutical manufacturer Aspen Pharmacare has secured US$30 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) to support its plan to make childhood vaccines for Africa. Aspen secured a 10-year agreement with the Serum Institute of India (SII) in August, to bottle four vaccines used in childhood immunisation programmes, which it will market and distribute under its own brand in Africa.

The agreement aims to use spare capacity in Aspen’s sterile plant in Gqeberha, which has lines lying idle due to slower-than-expected demand for Covid-19 shots and reduce Africa’s reliance on vaccine imports, which leaves it vulnerable in times of scarcity.

Aspen CEO Stephen Saad said the funding from the BMGF and CEPI, which each put in US$15 million to support its partnership with the SII, was an important step in ensuring expanded and enduring access to a pipeline of products that were made in Africa, for Africans. The terms of the deal include a technology transfer and formulation filland-finish arrangement, which grants Aspen the rights to manufacture the products from bulk drug substances supplied by SII.