Press Release: Sanofi and Biovac spearhead polio vaccine
manufacturing capabilities in Africa
Sanofi and Biovac spearhead polio vaccine
manufacturing capabilities in Africa
Paris, June 20, 2024. Sanofi and Biovac, a Cape
Town, South Africa-based biopharmaceutical company, announce today
their local manufacturing partnership to produce inactivated polio
vaccines (IPV) in Africa. This agreement is designed to enable
regional manufacturing of polio vaccines to serve the potential
needs of over 40 African countries. This partnership with Sanofi
makes Biovac the first African producer of IPV on and for the
African continent and supports the Africa Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention’s ambition to have 60 percent of local
vaccines produced in Africa by 2040.
Thomas TriompheExecutive Vice President,
Vaccines, Sanofi“For 40 years, Sanofi has supplied billions of
polio vaccine doses globally, supporting the world getting close to
polio eradication. But with the COVID-19 pandemic, many routine
pediatric vaccination programs were halted or disrupted. Catching
up will be key to preventing a rise in cases in many countries
worldwide and this Sanofi partnership with Biovac is a step in that
direction. Establishing this manufacturing partnership now, ahead
of time, is key to enabling Biovac’s manufacturing capabilities for
future international tenders.”
Dr Morena MakhoanaChief Executive Officer,
Biovac“We are very proud of this partnership with Sanofi, which
will empower Biovac as an African manufacturer to champion polio
eradication on and for the continent by bringing manufacturing of
IPV doses closer to people needs.”
Sanofi has been a critical partner of the Global
Polio Eradication Initiative since 1988 and has supplied the world
and UNICEF with more than 1.5 billion doses of IPV through GAVI,
the Vaccine Alliance, which aims to vaccinate the populations of
more than 70 of the poorest countries on the planet with the aim to
eradicate polio.
Sanofi will continue to produce the bulk of IPV
and Biovac, who will hold the marketing authorization, will be
responsible for late-stage formulation, filling, packaging, and
delivery of millions of IPV doses to UNICEF for GAVI countries in
Africa.
Biovac is a leading biotechnology company and a
Centre of Excellence, rooted in Africa, specializing in the
development and manufacture of vaccines and other biologicals for
Africa and beyond. In collaboration with the South African
government, Biovac was established in 2003 to revive local human
vaccine development and manufacturing capability in Southern
Africa.
Polio is a highly contagious disease which
mainly affects children under five years of age, who suffer the
highest burden of temporary or permanent paralysis and death. Polio
is an incurable infection that can only be prevented through
immunization. Infected individuals shed the polio virus in the
environment through fecal matter, or through the droplets from a
sneeze or cough of an infected person, for several weeks. Almost 90
percent of infected people have no symptoms or very mild symptoms
that usually remain undetected. In others, initial symptoms include
fever, fatigue, headache, vomiting, aching muscles, stiffness in
the neck and pain in the limbs. One in 200 infections leads to
irreversible paralysis.
Over the last 30 years, under the Global Polio
Eradication Initiative (GPEI), 2.5 billion children have been
immunized against polio resulting in a 99 percent reduction in the
number of cases worldwide. At the end of 2023, polio was endemic in
only two countries (Afghanistan and Pakistan). As a result of the
global effort to eradicate the disease, almost 20 million people
have been saved from paralysis.
About SanofiWe are an innovative global
healthcare company, driven by one purpose: we chase the miracles of
science to improve people’s lives. Our team, across the world, is
dedicated to transforming the practice of medicine by working to
turn the impossible into the possible. We provide potentially
life-changing treatment options and life-saving vaccine protection
to millions of people globally, while putting sustainability and
social responsibility at the center of our ambitions.Sanofi is
listed on EURONEXT: SAN and NASDAQ: SNY
Media RelationsSandrine
Guendoul | + 33 6 25 09 14 25 |
sandrine.guendoul@sanofi.comEvan Berland | +1 215
432 0234 | evan.berland@sanofi.comNicolas Obrist |
+ 33 6 77 21 27 55 | nicolas.obrist@sanofi.comVictor
Rouault | + 33 6 70 93 71 40 |
victor.rouault@sanofi.comTimothy Gilbert | + 1 516
521 2929 | timothy.gilbert@sanofi.com
Investor RelationsThomas Kudsk
Larsen |+ 44 7545 513 693 |
thomas.larsen@sanofi.comAlizé Kaisserian | + 33 6
47 04 12 11 | alize.kaisserian@sanofi.comArnaud
Delépine | + 33 6 73 69 36 93 |
arnaud.delepine@sanofi.comFelix Lauscher | + 1 908
612 7239 | felix.lauscher@sanofi.comKeita Browne |
+ 1 781 249 1766 | keita.browne@sanofi.comNathalie
Pham | + 33 7 85 93 30 17 |
nathalie.pham@sanofi.comTarik Elgoutni | + 1 617
710 3587 | tarik.elgoutni@sanofi.comThibaud
Châtelet | + 33 6 80 80 89 90 |
thibaud.chatelet@sanofi.com
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