Sanofi And Biovac Ink Manufacturing Partnership To Make Inactivated Polio Vaccines In Africa

(RTTNews) - French drug major Sanofi (SNYNF, SNY) and South African biopharmaceutical company Biovac Institute (Pty) Ltd. announced Thursday their local manufacturing partnership to produce inactivated polio vaccines (IPV) in Africa.

The agreement is designed to enable regional manufacturing of polio vaccines to serve the potential needs of over 40 African countries. This partnership with Sanofi makes Biovac the first African producer of IPV on and for the African continent.

It also supports the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's ambition to have 60 percent of local vaccines produced in Africa by 2040.

Sanofi has been a critical partner of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative since 1988 and has supplied the world and UNICEF with more than 1.5 billion doses of IPV through Vaccine Alliance GAVI.

Sanofi will continue to produce the bulk of IPV and Biovac, who will hold the marketing authorization, will be responsible for late-stage formulation, filling, packaging, and delivery of millions of IPV doses to UNICEF for GAVI countries in Africa.