Afrigen

Last updated
Afrigen Biologics and Vaccines
Company type Private
Industry Biotech
Founded2014;11 years ago (2014) [1]
Headquarters,
Key people
Mehmet Levent Selamoglu (Chairperson)
Petro Terblanche (CEO) [1]
Products Vaccines
OwnerAvacare South Africa
The Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa [1]
Website afrigen.co.za

Afrigen (officially Afrigen Biologics and Vaccines) is a South African biotech company, based in Cape Town. [2]

Contents

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. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "About Us". Afrigen. Retrieved 9 May 2025.
  2. 1 2 Aizenman, Nurith (28 December 2022). "How a scrappy African startup could forever change the world of vaccines". NPR. Retrieved 19 November 2023.
  3. 1 2 Wendell Roelf (4 February 2022). "In world first, South Africa's Afrigen makes mRNA COVID vaccine using Moderna data". Reuters. Retrieved 9 May 2025.
  4. Dutton, Jack (26 October 2022). "First African-made mRNA vaccine, a test platform for the future" . Nature Africa. doi:10.1038/d44148-022-00151-3.
  5. Barry-Jester, Anna Maria (4 October 2023). "How a Big Pharma Company Stalled a Potentially Lifesaving Vaccine in Pursuit of Bigger Profits". ProPublica. Retrieved 19 November 2023.
  6. CEPI (20 January 2025). "South Africa's Afrigen to develop human mRNA Rift Valley fever vaccine". CEPI. Retrieved 9 May 2025.