SOUTH AFRICA MAKING FIRST NEW CHOLERA VACCINE IN DECADES
A South African pharmaceutical company is beginning trials of cholera drops that could become the first vaccine created from scratch on the continent.
The project by Cape Town-based Biovac is seen as a milestone in vaccine manufacture in Africa, which is almost wholly reliant on jabs and drops made elsewhere.
Just one per cent of routine vaccines used in Africa are actually manufactured on the continent, and the African Union has vowed to increase that proportion to 60 per cent over the next 15 years.
The danger of not having sovereign vaccine factories was highlighted during the Covid-19 pandemic, when African nations were left at the back of the queue to get jabs being made abroad.
A new cholera vaccine would also help combat a killer infection which affects Africa more than any other part of the world. Cases have surged in recent years and cholera vaccine stocks have dwindled.
Dr Morena Makhoana, chief executive of Biovac, said: “Biovac is proud to be manufacturing this vaccine entirely in South Africa.
“If the trials are successful, South Africa will become the first country on the continent to produce a cholera vaccine.”
Globally there were more than 300,000 cases of cholera in the first half of this year and the infection killed more than 3,500 people.
Africa accounted for six-in-10 of those cases and more than 95 per cent of those deaths.
The severe diarrhoeal infection is caused by food or water contaminated with the bacterium Vibrio cholerae.
The disease spreads quickly and the acute diarrhoea leads to rapid dehydration and sometimes death within hours, though it is easy to treat with rehydration solutions and intravenous fluids.
Outbreaks often thrive in the wake of humanitarian disasters where there is a lack of clean sanitation, or many displaced people living in unhygienic conditions.
‘A critical, life-saving need’
A spate of wars and climate disasters like droughts, typhoons and floods have seen cases surge since 2021.
African cases in the first half of 2025 were up 55 per cent and deaths up 115 per cent compared to the first half of 2024, with big outbreaks in Sudan, South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Angola.
“This development addresses a critical, life-saving need, given the ongoing global shortages of the vaccine amid recurring cholera outbreaks,” said Dr Makhoana.
A phase 1 trial to see if the vaccine is safe is already underway at Wits University.
A later phase 3 trial at sites in Johannesburg, Durban, and East London will check if the vaccine prompts an immune response that prevents cholera.
If the trials go well, the drops could be available for use by 2029.
Africa’s fledgling vaccine manufacturers have until now concentrated only on producing and packaging vaccines which have been designed and made abroad.
This involves receiving the active pharmaceutical ingredient from abroad and then completing manufacture in a process often called ‘fill and finish’.
For the cholera vaccine, Biovac will instead create the vaccine from start to finish, beginning with initial bacterial strains and going all the way through to the manufacturing process and then undergoing clinical trials and regulatory approval.
Biovac was set up in 2003 as a partnership with the South African government.
Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, minister of health, said: “The commencement of clinical trials for South Africa’s first fully manufactured oral cholera vaccine is a historic milestone, not only for Biovac and our nation, but for the entire continent.
“The ability to manufacture a life-saving vaccine from start to finish right here at home strengthens our national capacity to respond swiftly to potential outbreaks and enhances Africa’s self-reliance in vaccine production.”
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2025-11-12T17:35:48Z
