Company:Afrigen
 | |
| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Biotech |
| Founded | 2014[1] |
| Headquarters | Montague Gardens, Cape Town , South Africa[1] |
Key people | Mehmet Levent Selamoglu (Chairperson) Petro Terblanche (CEO)[1] |
| Products | Vaccines |
| Owner | Avacare South Africa The Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa[1] |
| Website | afrigen |
Afrigen (officially Afrigen Biologics and Vaccines) is a South African biotech company, based in Cape Town.[2]
History
Afrigen was founded in 2014, as a partnership between the Infectious Disease Research Institute (IDRI), which was a non-government organization registered in the USA, and later transformed to the Access to Advanced Health Initiative (AAHI), and the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa (IDC).[1]
In November 2017, Avacare Health acquired the IDRI stake in Afrigen.[1]
In February 2022, Afrigen was the world's first company to manufacture an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine using a publicly available sequence from a different manufacturer. The vaccine was made using Moderna's data.[3]
Major pharmaceutical companies Pfizer, BioNTech, and Moderna all declined the WHO's request to share their technology to expand vaccine access. As a result, the WHO chose a consortium, including Afrigen, for a pilot project to give poor and middle-income countries the knowledge to make COVID vaccines themselves. Afrigen also agreed to help train companies in Argentina and Brazil.[3]
As of 2023, Afrigen had developed a COVID-19 vaccine, and was working on mRNA vaccines for tuberculosis and HIV.[4][5][2]
In January 2025, it was announced that Afrigen is pioneering research which aims to develop the first mRNA-based vaccine against Rift Valley fever, a mosquito-borne disease affecting countries across Africa and the Middle East. This research is backed by a R116 million grant from the Norway-based foundation, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI).[6]
Operations
Afrigen operates from 6 customized warehouses that house research and product development labs, GMP vaccine manufacturing, GMP active ingredient production for health and wellness products, quality control labs, product stability testing, a compounding pharmacy, as well as warehousing for raw materials and products.[1]
Funding
Afrigen's funding comes from numerous organizations, including the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP).[1]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 "About Us". Afrigen. https://www.afrigen.co.za/about-us-3/.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Aizenman, Nurith (28 December 2022). "How a scrappy African startup could forever change the world of vaccines". NPR. https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2022/12/28/1145836719/how-a-scrappy-african-start-up-could-forever-change-the-world-of-vaccines.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Wendell Roelf (4 February 2022). "In world first, South Africa's Afrigen makes mRNA COVID vaccine using Moderna data". Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/world-first-safricas-afrigen-makes-mrna-covid-vaccine-using-moderna-data-2022-02-03/.
- ↑ Dutton, Jack (26 October 2022). "First African-made mRNA vaccine, a test platform for the future" (in en). Nature Africa. doi:10.1038/d44148-022-00151-3. https://www.nature.com/articles/d44148-022-00151-3.
- ↑ Barry-Jester, Anna Maria (4 October 2023). "How a Big Pharma Company Stalled a Potentially Lifesaving Vaccine in Pursuit of Bigger Profits" (in en). ProPublica. https://www.propublica.org/article/how-big-pharma-company-stalled-tuberculosis-vaccine-to-pursue-bigger-profits.
- ↑ CEPI (20 January 2025). "South Africa’s Afrigen to develop human mRNA Rift Valley fever vaccine". CEPI. https://cepi.net/south-africas-afrigen-develop-human-mrna-rift-valley-fever-vaccine.
External links
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