Senegal’s Institut Pasteur of Dakar (IPD) has reached a deal with US company MedInstill for the bottling of COVID-19 vaccines, an EU document shows, marking a step to becoming a fully-fledged maker of vaccines against the novel coronavirus for Africa.
The EU is a major financial backer of the project, which aims to enable the institute to manufacture 300 million vaccine doses per year and reduce Africa’s reliance on imported vaccines.
However, the institute has yet to secure a partnership with a COVID-19 vaccine patent holder to produce doses.
African countries have so far received a tiny portion of COVID-19 shots produced globally, as wealthy nations have bought most of the output.
South Africa’s Aspen Pharmacare, which produces the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine, is Africa’s only COVID-19 vaccine producer.
“IPD plans in a first phase to work on fill & finish and only later to carry out full production,” the internal EU document seen by Reuters said. “At the moment, partnerships have been signed with U.S. firm MedInstill for the fill & finish, and with Belgian company Univercells for the development of the active substance.”
The document was produced by the bloc’s diplomatic delegation in Dakar.
MedInstill declined to comment on the deal. IPD did not respond to a request for comment.
Backers of the project last month announced that a new plant in Senegal to manufacture COVID-19 vaccines would produce 25 million doses per month by the end of next year.
The EU document said that the plant is expected to begin production at the end of the second quarter of next year.
A decision on what type of COVID-19 vaccine would be produced has not yet been made, the document said, adding that a major risk for the project would be difficulties linked to the selection of the vaccine technology.
The document said that two options are being assessed more closely at the moment: a partnership with German drugmaker BioNTech for the production of its messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) COVID-19 vaccine, which was jointly developed with US firm Pfizer, or a new partnership deal with Univercells for the production of a viral vector COVID-19 vaccine that the Belgian firm is developing with Italy’s ReiThera.
Alternatively the institute might produce an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine that Univercells is trying to develop through its unit Quantoom Biosciences.
BioNTech declined to comment and Univercells did not respond to requests for comment.
The document said that “in theory,” other holders of COVID-19 vaccine patents could be interested in making their shots in Senegal, citing AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson.
Only vaccines that have already been approved by a major drugs regulator, such as the European Medicines Agency, or are prequalified by the WHO can be chosen for production in Senegal, the document said.
Univercells’ potential vaccines are still being trialed and have no authorization yet.
The institute is the only facility in West Africa currently producing a vaccine — a yellow fever shot — that is prequalified by the WHO, which requires manufacturers to meet strict international standards.
There are currently fewer than 10 African manufacturers that produce vaccines against any disease, in Egypt, Morocco, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia.
The EU has said it wants to back the development of vaccine production hubs in at least three African countries, including Senegal and South Africa.
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