DEK Vaccines Limited, has partnered with two of the world’s largest vaccine manufacturers, Korean International Vaccine Institute (IVI) and EuBiologics to produce and distribute Oral Cholera Vaccines (OCV) in Ghana. The ground breaking agreement signed September 4 in a brief ceremony at the National Vaccines Institute in Accra marks the beginning of a major local vaccines manufacturing project that will boost vaccine equity and access for children in Ghana and Africa.
As part of the agreement, IVI Korea is expected to transfer Vaccines manufacturing technology to DEK Vaccines whiles EuBiologics will be engaged to train its officials to enable them to manufacture vaccines of the same quality produced by IVI in Korea. The agreement also details additional cooperative actions like funding OCV clinical trials in Ghana and other African nations, scaling up vaccine production capacity to the proper level and obtaining regulatory approvals. Aside from the OCV, Eubiologics would consider developing a combination of vaccines for typhoid and meningitis.
The CEO of DEK, Dr. Kofi Nsiah Poku in his remark indicated that the ceremony symbolized the seamless exchange of knowledge, innovation and progress from one realm to the other and also the beginning of a promising journey towards technological advancement and collaboration for vaccine manufacturing in Ghana and Africa. Dr. Nsiah revealed that production of the vaccines would begin at the end of 2024.
“We are going to start with cholera vaccine and later do typhoid vaccines as well, Dr. Nsiah-Poku noted. He further indicated that his outfit was building the necessary infrastructure to train its personal on the technology” Mr. Nkansah emphasised.
A representative from the IVI, Andrea Kim was concerned about the ability of the continent to deal with cholera and other water borne diseases and noted the company’s readiness to make Ghana a hub of making waterborne diseases vaccines in Africa.
On her part, the international marketing team leader of EuBiologics Ms. Rachel Park said the company had two manufacturing sites with the capacity to produce 500 million doses of vaccines.
IVI Korea holds the vaccine’s Intellectual Property (IP) and has licensed manufacturers all over the world, particularly those in developing nations. EuBiologics is a bulk manufacturer whiles DEK Vaccines Limited is a ‘fill and finish’ partner in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical sectors.
Source: MOI (PR Unit)
