Biovac, the South African biopharmaceutical company that supplies 80% of the country's routine childhood vaccines, has secured more than $175 million in international financing to build a multi-vaccine manufacturing plant in Cape Town, capable of producing 560 million doses per year – nearly four times its current output, according to statements published by the IFC and the European Investment Bank between 2022 and 2023.
The funding includes a $7 million rand-equivalent loan from the IFC – the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, the largest global development institution focusing on emerging markets – announced in December 2023 to support the ongoing production of vaccines against human papillomavirus, meningococcal disease, cholera and pediatric diseases, and a €15 million non-reimbursable grant from the European Union, channeled for financing through the European Investment Bank in June 2022. According to both the institutes, feasibility study and detailed design of the expanded facility. IFC also signed a Project Development Agreement to provide technical advisory support for the planning process of the plant.
“This collaboration embodies the kind of support needed on the continent, focusing not only on fill-capability and capabilities, but also on research and development, drug substance advancement and ultimately enabling end-to-end manufacturing in Africa.Craig Mitchell, Biovac's chief financial officer, said in a statement published by the IFC in December 2023. Biovac has distributed more than 450 million vaccine doses since 2003 to South Africa, Angola, Botswana, Mozambique and three other countries in the Southern African region.
The financing puts Biovac at the center of a continental push that has real urgency. Africa consumes about 25% of the world's vaccines, but manufactures less than 1%, according to CDC data published in 2024. As African nations waited months behind the global queue for mRNA shots, the COVID-19 pandemic put that gap on stark display. The African Union responded in 2022 with a formal commitment to produce 60% of its vaccines locally by 2040 – a target that has since been followed by billions of pledges, including a $1.1 billion program launched by the European Commission in June 2024 to accelerate vaccine production across the continent.
clinical croup
The most concrete sign of BioVac's progress came in November 2025, when the company began Phase 1 clinical trials of its oral cholera vaccine at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, after receiving approval from SAHPRA, South Africa's health products regulatory authority, according to a statement from the South African Department of Science and Innovation published on November 10, 2025. The vaccine is the first to be developed entirely in Africa in more than 50 years – from initial bacterial strains to the finished product – with technology transferred from the International Vaccine Institute, a Seoul-based non-profit, in 2022. That same week, Biovac opened a state-of-the-art product development lab at its Pinelands site in Cape Town, which was supported by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation worth about $15 million, according to Vijay Yabannavar, a senior program officer at the Gates Foundation, quoted by Daily Maverick. The facility hosts mRNA drug substance infrastructure, a nanoparticle formulation suite and dedicated bacteria and cell culture areas, enabling BioVac to develop multiple vaccine candidates simultaneously.
Phase 1 tests safety in a small group of adults. According to the government statement, if the results hold true, a Phase 3 study involving about 3,000 participants will be conducted at five sites in South Africa – two in Johannesburg, two in Durban, one in East London – coordinated by the South African Medical Research Council, the country's primary public health research institute. A successful outcome could lead to approval for African use in 2028 and global approval by 2028–2029. Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, a public-private partnership that supplies vaccines for half the world's children, has set up incentive mechanisms specifically for African-made vaccines, putting BioVac in the lead position to capture regional procurement contracts.
According to the EIB, the new multi-vaccine plant is in the detailed design phase and Biovac needs to close the remaining envelope of $175 million with South African and international commercial partners. Infrastructure South Africa, the government agency tasked with mobilizing infrastructure investment, is working with the Western Cape province to unlock an additional 260 million rand in project support through June 2022, according to an EIB statement.
The next important milestone is Phase 1 trial data readout, expected during 2026. A clean safety signal would open the door to Phase 3, accelerate BioVac's commercial financing story, and mark the clearest test yet of whether Africa's most ambitious vaccine creation is on track to deliver.
Idris Linge