BioNTech introduces modular mRNA plan for Africa plant

BioNTech has introduced a container solution for its mRNA manufacturing strategy to improve vaccine supply in Africa.

The German biotech signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Rwandan government and Institut Pasteur de Dakar in Senegal in October 2021 to start building a messenger RNA (mRNA) plant this summer.

This week, in what the firm dubbed a “high-level” meeting at its Marburg, Germany facility, BioNTech presented a container solution named BioNTainer to various key partners.

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A BioNTainer is a cleanroom built from six ISO sized containers and consisting of one drug substance and one formulation module, which the firm says enables mRNA vaccine production in bulk. The fill-finish step will be down to local partners situated in Ghana and South Africa.

According to the firm, two modules require 800 square meters of space and offer the initial capacity of up to 50 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine each year. And BioNTech can increase capacity by adding extra modules and sites to the manufacturing network on the African Continent.

The BioNTainer will be able to produce a range of different mRNA-based vaccines, including its COVID-19 jab and its investigational malaria vaccine. And vaccines manufactured in these facilities will be dedicated to domestic use and/or export to other member states of the African Union at a not-for-profit price.

The firm will take full responsibility for the delivery and installation of the modules, but local organizations, governments, and authorities will establish the necessary infrastructure. Furthermore, to ensure compliance BioNTech has said it will work closely with local and international authorities.

The first BioNTainer is anticipated to arrive in Africa during the second half of this year and production will commence around one year after the delivery of the modules to its final location in Africa.