Vaccine manufacturing
The onslaught of Covid-19 has triggered the need for African countries such as Ghana to become self-reliant in the production of vaccines due to the difficulties encountered in accessing Covid-19 vaccines during the pandemic. As a result, the Government of Ghana has constituted the Presidential Vaccine Manufacturing Committee who has in turn developed a roadmap for the local production of vaccines in Ghana.
Atlantic Lifesciences Ltd is the first company in Ghana that has taken the lead in setting up a multiple Vaccine Fill & Finish plant for the filling of essential life-saving bulk vaccines via technology transfer processes.
Two separate lines have been set up, with the first line ready for fill & finish operations for biological products and bacterial vaccines and having an installed capacity of 180 million doses per year. Production on the first line is expected to commence by the 3rd Quarter of 2023.
In the medium term, the second line which has utility provisions in place, will be fully installed with necessary production equipment to support fill & finish of other vaccines. The second line is projected to have an expanded capacity of filling 480 million doses of various vaccines per year.
Currently, Pharmanova Ltd, the parent company of Atlantic Lifesciences Ltd are the major importers and suppliers of Anti-Snake venom serum & Anti-Rabies vaccine in the West African sub-region. However, in order to contribute to the African Union (AU) ambitious self-reliance goal to locally produce 60% of vaccines needed on the African continent by 2040 through the PAVM strategic framework, Atlantic Lifesciences has set up a vaccine production facility to fill and finish various immunoglobulins and vaccines locally in the short to medium term for distribution in Africa.
“Committed to provide quality healthcare”
We are on course to commence the production of the following immunoglobulins by the 3rd quarter of 2023. These include:
- Anti-Snake Venom Serum
- Anti-Tetanus Serum
- Anti-Rabies Immunoglobulin
This will be done in collaboration with Vins Bioproducts Ltd of India via technology transfer processes.
Vaccines to be produced include the following, most of which are on the EPI Vaccines List:
- Tetanus Toxoid Vaccine (TT)
- Tetanus-Diphtheria Vaccine (Td-10)
- Pentavalent vaccine (DTP-HepB-Hib-10)
- Pneumococcal vaccine (PCV13-4)
- Meningococcal vaccine [Mening A Conj-10 (pediatric)
- Recombinant Hepatitis B vaccine (HepB)
- Haemophilus Influenzae type B vaccine (Hib)
- Anti-Rabies vaccine
- Measles - Rubella Vaccine (MR-10)
Atlantic is poised to work in collaboration with PAVM, AVMI and other AU agencies to contribute to achieving the AU’s goal of developing, producing and supplying at least 60% of Africa’s vaccines on the continent by 2040.