Paying emerging African vaccine manufacturers a premium for their products is a small price to pay for protecting the continent against future pandemics, a senior executive at state-backed vaccine manufacturer Biovac said on Thursday.
The price of locally produced vaccines shot into the spotlight in May after the health department rejected Biovac’s pneumonia vaccine in favour of cheaper jabs imported from India by the local subsidiary of Indian generic pharmaceutical manufacturer Cipla. The development came as an unexpected blow to Biovac, which had partnered with pharmaceutical company Pfizer to make the shots in Cape Town, in the expectation that the vaccines would be procured by the health department.
“Let’s not lose sight of what we are trying to achieve. We can’t expect (a) risk reduction in terms of vaccine access without investing in it before the time,” said Biovac head of science and innovation Patrick Tippoo.
Africa’s vulnerability to global pharmaceutical shortages was thrown into sharp relief during the coronavirus pandemic, as African countries were last in line when Covid-19 vaccines were in short supply. Africa imports 99% of its vaccines, and countries with domestic or regional production capacity prioritised their own populations before selling Covid-19 jabs to the continent or providing them to the international vaccine sharing mechanism Covax.
In response, the AU and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention set up the Partnerships for African Vaccine Manufacturing (PAVM) to bolster the continent’s vaccine manufacturing capacity. The PAVM aims to ensure that by 2040, 60% of the vaccine doses administered on the continent are manufactured by African manufacturing companies.
Speaking at the virtual launch of a report on the challenges facing African vaccine manufacturers, Tippoo said emerging players needed a guaranteed market for their products.
“Advance purchase agreements are necessary to incentivise investments in manufacturing capability, infrastructure and workforce development. This includes African governments as well as Gavi [the Global Access to Vaccines Initiative], which supplies 1.6-billion doses to Africa each year.
‘Predictable demand’
“We also need African countries to look at their role and offer predictable demand, because it is predictable demand that establishes a compelling business case for investment. Without that, one can easily say it is dead in the water,” he said.
The report was compiled by the UK charitable foundation Wellcome, the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and Biovac.
The MD of BCG SA, Jan Gildemeister, said vaccine manufacturers were not looking for a free ride, but they could not grow if African health departments focused solely on price, as had been the case in SA.
The health department said last month that SA’s procurement rules precluded it from negotiating with Biovac on its bid, and that the three-year contract it concluded with Cipla SA provided a significant saving.
The tender award shows Cipla’s price was R97.06 per dose. Biovac subsequently said that while the health department’s decision would save the government about R280m a year, it would have a chilling effect on investors considering future projects in SA.
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