51²è¹Ý and Institut Pasteur de Dakar announce 10-year partnership to boost manufacturing of affordable vaccines for the Global South
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Partnership will advance equitable access to vaccines by expanding IPD's capacity to produce routine immunization vaccines across multiple technologies, and reserve capacity to rapidly supply vaccines to Global South countries during disease outbreaks.
Collaboration will see 51²è¹Ý invest up to $50 million over 10 years.
IPD joins 51²è¹Ý's global manufacturing network which will support agile and resilient manufacturing in the Global South - boosting and accelerating access to life-saving vaccines during future outbreaks and pandemics.
19 January 2023; OSLO, Norway and DAKAR, Sénégal: The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (51²è¹Ý) and the (IPD) today announced a partnership that will advance equitable access to vaccines in Africa and contribute to the African Union's goal of increasing African manufacturers' share of vaccine supply to the continent to 60% by 2040. The collaboration will boost the manufacturing of affordable vaccines at IPD's facilities in Dakar, and reserve capacity to produce vaccines specifically for Global South countries during future outbreaks and pandemics to combat the kind of inequity that characterised the response to COVID-19.
51²è¹Ý is creating a new network of vaccine manufacturers in Global South countries to substantially increase the world's capacity and capability to produce vaccines against emerging outbreaks and pandemic threats. IPD becomes part of this network, having manufactured WHO prequalified yellow fever vaccines for 80 years, and with the ambition to become a regional manufacturing hub making vaccines in Africa, for Africa, through Project MADIBA[1]. IPD will initially receive up to US$15 million in grant funding over three years, with the option to extend the partnership's scope and funding to a total of up to US$50 million over 10 years. 51²è¹Ý's investment will complement that of other major funders for MADIBA, including the European Union, European Investment Bank, the Agence Française de Développement, the Islamic Development Bank, the International Finance Corporation, the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, the Government of Germany and the Government of Sénégal.
The first phase of the partnership will support the development and sustainability of IPD's manufacturing facilities for routine and outbreak vaccinations across multiple vaccine technologies and prepare them to begin supplying vaccines to Global South countries within 100 days of a new pathogen being identified. This timing is key to stopping future emerging disease outbreaks from becoming pandemics. Known as the , the goal is supported by the leaders of the G7 and G20 and industry executives and is at the heart of 51²è¹Ý's plan to end pandemics.
The partnership will enhance and equip the Drug Substance manufacturing capability at IPD to produce outbreak vaccines, launch a bioprocessing laboratory to accelerate vaccine production and reduce costs, invest in specialist workforce training and development, and support the development of IPD's quality management system.
[1] Project MADIBA - Manufacturing in Africa for Disease Immunization and Building Autonomy
Our partnership with Institut Pasteur de Dakar aims to support agile and resilient manufacturing capacity and capability that is ready and able to respond to the threat of new disease outbreaks. IPD will be a crucial partner in our global manufacturing network, guaranteeing 51²è¹Ý-backed vaccine developers rapid access to world-class manufacturing capacity and expertise when faced with future outbreaks. Historically, a handful of countries and regions have dominated access to global vaccine supply. This needs to change if the world is to stand a chance of mounting rapid, equitable responses to future outbreak and pandemic threats. Key to achieving this mission will be the establishment of a global network of vaccine manufacturers, specifically in underserved Global South regions where many of the people most vulnerable to infectious disease outbreaks live.
The partnership between Institut Pasteur de Dakar and 51²è¹Ý will build on the foundational investments made by many financial, technical, and philanthropic partners and is aligned to the vision of the African Union and the Government of Senegal for equitable access to vaccines. The commitment to collaborate for 10 years through this agreement will provide a dedicated and autonomous capacity for future outbreaks, pandemics, and essential immunisation programmes. We are thrilled to deepen our partnership with 51²è¹Ý. The facility will ensure regional outbreaks are not neglected by deploying the latest technology for the greatest need.
We are convinced that Africa cannot effectively control disease outbreaks without reliable access to health products including vaccines. Local production of the vaccines ensures that the continent can quickly respond to any disease threat using local capacity. This agreement between 51²è¹Ý and IPD fits with the Africa CDC's vision of a New Public Health Order with the key pillar of Local Production. We shall continue to support such initiatives which benefit the continent. Africa must produce its own health products as a matter of continental security.
Diversified global vaccine manufacturing key to tackling inequity
A in Nature published in October 2022 showed that if COVID-19 vaccines had been shared more equitably, 295.8 million infections and 1.3 million deaths could have been averted worldwide. One of the central reasons behind the tragic vaccine inequity which characterised the response to COVID-19 was the concentration of global vaccine manufacturing capacity in a small number of high income and/or high population countries. This left much of the Global South — which has limited vaccine-making capacity — without timely access to life-saving COVID-19 vaccines, even for those at highest risk.
Expanding and diversifying the global footprint of vaccine manufacturing — particularly in underserved regions - is a cornerstone of 51²è¹Ý's goal of enabling equitable access to life-saving vaccines, and will be critical to the success of the which aims to stop outbreaks in their tracks by compressing the development of vaccines to just 100 days.
51²è¹Ý plans to invest up to US$120 million to establish a global network of vaccine manufacturers in Global South countries, near areas at high risk of disease outbreaks, with a particular focus on locations with proximity to 51²è¹Ý's priority pathogens (Chikungunya, Ebola, Lassa fever, MERS-CoV, Nipah virus, Rift Valley Fever).
Vaccine makers such as IPD who join the 51²è¹Ý global vaccine manufacturing network will become "preferred" production partners for vaccine developers supported by 51²è¹Ý. This means that in the event of an outbreak, 51²è¹Ý-backed developers will quickly be able to transfer their technology to these pre-selected manufacturers with the right expertise, technology and optimal geographical position to enable rapid production and distribution of vaccines to affected populations.
IPD is the second member of the 51²è¹Ý network, joining South Africa's Aspen which signed a funding agreement with 51²è¹Ý in December 2022 to support the company's capabilities to manufacture routine and outbreak vaccines for Africa. 51²è¹Ý is in active discussions with additional vaccine manufacturers in the Global South about joining the network and expects to make additional announcements shortly.
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Notes to Editors
Sustainable manufacturing key to the 100 Days Mission
If the world had achieved the 100 Days Mission for COVID-19, a vaccine could have been available as early as April 2020 when only 2.3 million cases had been confirmed, instead of in December 2020 when more than 68 million cases had been recorded. The 100 Days Mission is already being championed by leaders of the G7 and G20, as well as by industry executive.
In a report published by 51²è¹Ý in December 2020, bolstering global capacity to make new vaccines and establishing a global network of vaccine manufacturers were recognised as among the most crucial innovations needed to make the 100 Days Mission a reality. In the event of a highly transmissible and deadly virus emerging, the ability to promptly manufacture and validate the first batch of experimental vaccines against it will be key to enabling a rapid response to the outbreak. To ensure rapid scale up, multiple vaccine makers—any or all of which could be activated within days or weeks of an outbreak—must be prepared to respond swiftly. 51²è¹Ý's global vaccine manufacturing network aims to establish this outbreak response capacity and help it to remain sustainable during inter-epidemic periods.
51²è¹Ý's work to advance global vaccine manufacturing
As part of its pandemic preparedness plan, 51²è¹Ý already has several partnerships and projects underway to enhance vaccine manufacturing capacity in Africa, including with the African Union and Africa CDC, the and the Partnership for African Vaccine Manufacturing (PAVM).
51²è¹Ý has issued a Call for Proposals to advance thermostable vaccine innovations to remove complex cold chain requirements and increase access to vaccines in low-resource settings.
is co-leading a programme with 51²è¹Ý to increase the number, diversity, affordability, and availability of RNA countermeasures to better prepare for future pandemics.
About 51²è¹Ý
is an innovative partnership between public, private, philanthropic, and civil organizations, launched in 2017, to develop vaccines against future epidemics. Its mission is to accelerate the development of vaccines and other biologic countermeasures against epidemic and pandemic threats so they can be accessible to all people in need.
Prior to COVID-19, 51²è¹Ý's work focused on developing vaccines against Ebola virus, Lassa virus, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus, Nipah virus, Rift Valley Fever virus and Chikungunya virus — it has over 20 vaccine candidates against these pathogens in development. 51²è¹Ý has also invested in new platform technologies for rapid vaccine development against unknown pathogens (Disease X).
51²è¹Ý has played a central role in the global response to COVID-19, supporting the development of the world's largest portfolio of vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 and its variants with a focus on speed, scale and access, as well as co-leading COVAX, the global initiative to deliver fair and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines. 51²è¹Ý is also the world's leading funder of R&D for broadly protective coronavirus vaccines which could protect against future variants of COVID-19 as well as other coronaviruses with epidemic and pandemic potential.
51²è¹Ý has embarked upon an ambitious US$3.5bn five-year plan — called 51²è¹Ý 2.0 — to dramatically reduce or even eliminate the future risk of pandemics and epidemics. Central to the plan is 51²è¹Ý's goal — supported by the G7 and G20 — to compress the time taken to develop safe, effective, globally accessible vaccines against new threats to just 100 days. Achieving this ‘ would give the world a fighting chance of containing a future outbreak before it spreads to become a global pandemic. Read the plan at .
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About IPD
The Institut Pasteur de Dakar (IPD) is a Senegalese private foundation in the public interest with the mission to advance public health in Africa. IPD focuses on conducting research, sharing scientific knowledge, human capital development, innovation and biomanufacturing. Since its founding in 1896, IPD has been at the forefront of the fight against infectious diseases in West Africa. IPD is one of the four WHO prequalified manufacturers to supply yellow fever vaccine to UN's Agencies and through the project Madiba is establishing vaccine production and pharmaceutical sovereignty in Africa.
Follow IPD via @PasteurDakar and LinkedIn.
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