At the CEO session of the World Bio Summit (WBS 2022) in Seoul on Wednesday, both Biovac CEO Dr. Morena Makhoana and Afrigen Biologics and Vaccines Managing Director Petro Terblanche were present.

In an interview with Korea Biomedical Review, they shared how they were working closely with the World Health Organisation (WHO) to develop the mRNA technology hub.

Terblanche emphasized that through the WHO hub, her priority was to build a mRNA platform and validate it for improved vaccine access.

Korea Biomedical Review (KBR): Can you briefly describe yourselves and the work of your institutions?

Afrigen CEO: I am Petro Terblanche, the Managing Director of Afrigen Biologics and Vaccines. We are a three-year-old biotechnology company based in Cape Town, South Africa. Afrigen and Biovac together with the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) are the consortiums that house the WHO’s mRNA technology transfer hub. In a nutshell, Afrigen comprises of scientists, technologists, engineers, and pharmacists developing this technology together with universities. Subsequently, we will then scale this technology, do clinical trials, and transfer it to Biovac who will then perform the commercial production of the vaccine.

Biovac CEO: Biovac was established to revive vaccine manufacturing in South Africa and is already nineteen years old. As a relatively young company, we are still on a mission to achieve end-to-end manufacturing in South Africa which still does not exist. I think we are making slow progress towards getting there as we are mainly still importing vaccines, but we are trying to push into product development through our bacterial platform. We want to plug the gap in the vaccine ecosystem to have multiple platform technologies to enable end-to-end vaccine manufacturing capabilities in South Africa.

KBR: As both companies and the mRNA hub are based in South Africa, how do the other African countries benefit from this platform?

Biovac CEO: Essentially, the vision which is being executed now is to ensure that the technology is shared. However, sharing is very rare in the biotechnology field. The whole mRNA hub was built around developing technology and sharing it. In this regard, Biovac alongside other young vaccine companies from the African continent has an opportunity to participate as recipients in this mRNA hub to access and share this technology.

Afrigen CEO: Simply put, this WHO mRNA hub project will train a total of 15 recipients, in which Africa has five trainees in addition to Biovac on the basic laboratory scale and to transfer technology in different stages.

The receiving companies are all at different developmental stages. For example, BioGeneric Pharma in Egypt is already quite advanced with quality management systems in place and is already supplying pharmaceuticals. Meanwhile, Tunisia, Kenya and Nigeria are building a new facility to embed this technology, while Senegal will expand their current facility.

Our main goal with this platform is for Africa to achieve 60 percent production of the vaccines which it currently administers.

KBR: You mentioned the collaboration with the International Vaccines Institute (IVI). Could you explain further on this topic?

Afrigen CEO: Afrigen, as the mRNA hub, have two collaborations with IVI. One is related to integrated training for good clinical, lab and manufacturing practices (GCP, GLP and GMP) and a delegation of 11 IVI professionals will come to Cape Town in December to further this agenda. Furthermore, we are also having discussions with IVI regarding the development of mRNA platforms and other sustainable platforms. Accordingly, we are interested in IVI’s antigen disease targets to sequence the antigen, design, and make the mRNA vaccine. It's a scientific collaboration for vaccine innovation but also entails training transfer and are looking forward to finalizing specific schedules and product pipelines.

Biovac CEO: Biovac also collaborates with IVI for staff training. On another note, IVI is deeply entrenched in enteric diseases like diarrhea. Thus, this is an area that we are also looking to forge relationships with IVI concerning their enteric disease portfolio and subsequent potential technology transfers.

KBR: As both companies are situated in Cape Town, I assume there must be some collaborations between Biovac and Afrigen. Can you explain your work together?

Afrigen CEO: Yes, we’re located just 10 kilometers away from each other, so we work closely with each other. Even before the hub, there was a collaboration with Afrigen so our partnership started earlier but the hub further cemented our mutual relationship. Just recently, Biovac specialists worked shoulder to shoulder  with Afrigen scientists to develop the assays essential for the mRNA vaccine. Afrigen was founded to localize the production of a TB vaccine for Africa and Biovac was our partner conducting the antigen technology transfer while we provided the adjuvant.

KBR: How does the WHO training hub in Africa differ from the one in Korea?

Afrigen CEO: Our program is very different. Korea’s WHO hub provides the biomanufacturing training at all levels including generic training, therapeutics, and vaccines. In contrast, Afrigen only trains the 15 selected recipients on the technology that we've developed which is specific for the mRNA production and technology transfer. Our program is then complemented by this hub in Korea which has already trained approximately 200 of our experts in the biomanufacturing field.

KBR: What are the top priorities for this WHO mRNA hub program?

Afrigen CEO: Our priority is to build a platform and validate it with a Covid-19 vaccine which is now in pre-clinical development. Following this, we can then use this platform on subsequent vaccine candidates, design, develop and finally transfer the technology to 15 other organisations in low- and middle-income countries, where Biovac is the first recipient. The essence of this program is to make mRNA technology available for vaccine manufacturing but also for future pandemic preparedness. In this regard, we have very tight timelines and are expected to go into clinical trials early next year.

Simultaneously, Africa is looking at new vaccines like the Rift Valley fever (RVF), the TB vaccine and designing an HIV vaccine alongside twelve other mRNA vaccine candidates.

KBR: What are your reasons for attending this summit in Korea?

Afrigen CEO: While I am here to represent Afrigen, I am also representing the African continent by extension. I have engaged with other tech start-ups at this summit who are trying to connect their technology in Africa like a group called Rocket who is developing and validating an intradermal infusion set for self-care in diabetes management. I am also meeting with other companies interested in our main business of vaccines and adjuvants and I am happy to be that bridge for any other Korean start-ups that wish to connect with Africa.

Biovac CEO: Our main goal is to strengthen some of our existing partnerships to assist The Developing Country Vaccine Manufacturers Network (DVCMN) for which South Korean companies like SK, LG, EuBiolgics are all members. Also, South Korea has very prominent companies in the vaccine space. The announcement between SK Bioscience and CEPI towards the development of mRNA is what we’re also aiming to accomplish in Africa. I also think it's important that South Koreans get to access Africa through our presence here and see Africa’s potential as a large and growing market.

KBR: Any final comments or short-term, long-term goals you wish to share?

Afrigen CEO: Our short-term goal is to gather more business for our adjuvants and deliver on the Covid-19 mRNA vaccine candidate to validate the mRNA platform. Long term, we want to establish a portfolio of 10-12 vaccines to ensure that the companies receiving technology from us have a pipeline to continue producing and commercializing vaccines.

Biovac CEO: Immediately, we really want to take the technology from our collaborations and upscale it to prove our abilities in the vaccine manufacturing space. Long term, we are also aiming to ensure there is drug substance capability in South Africa on both the mRNA and bacterial platforms.