CAPE TOWN, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and biotech billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong on Wednesday jointly launched a vaccine manufacturing campus in Cape Town, legislative capital of South Africa, with a goal to manufacture a billion doses of vaccines "from start to finish" by 2025.
This will be the first "real" vaccine manufacturing facility in Africa to produce COVID-19 vaccines by using locally-made drug substances, instead of filling with drug substances from elsewhere, Ramaphosa told a briefing at the launch.
The plant, a division of multinational conglomerate NantWorks, which was founded by Soon-Shiong, aims to accelerate domestic production of pharmaceuticals, biologics and vaccines that will benefit people across Africa.
According to Soon-Shiong, a Chinese American born in South Africa, the first drug substance is expected to be produced at the Cape Town facility within a year.
A Coalition to Accelerate Africa's Access to Advanced Healthcare was launched at the same event. The coalition aims to establish innovative manufacturing techniques to provide new treatments for life-threatening diseases including cancer, COVID-19, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDs.
The development is part of a broader initiative to build capacity for advanced health care in Africa announced by Soon-Shiong last September, for the transfer of biologic manufacturing technology for COVID-19 and cancer vaccines and next-generation cell-based immunotherapies. ■