VACSERA collaborating with Bilthoven Biologicals
A significant milestone for Egypt’s self-sufficiency on polio vaccines was reached on October 21st with the signing of the tech transfer agreement between VACSERA and Bilthoven Biologicals. The signing took place on the sidelines of Egypt’s second edition of the Global Congress on Population, Health and Human Development 2024, held under the auspices of President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, with the slogan “Human Development: For a Sustainable Future.”
Egypt’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Health and Population, Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, witnessed the signing of a cooperation agreement between the Holding Company for Biological Products and Vaccines (VACSERA) and the Dutch company Bilthoven Biologicals (BBio) to transfer the technology of manufacturing the injectable polio vaccine.
Basil Babychan, Commercial director at BBio: “What we are doing is to bring the technology to Egypt, where the product is filled, finished and supplied in the Egyptian market through VACSERA”. Jurgen Kwik, CEO at BBio adds: “This development aligns with BBio’s mission to be at the forefront of the fight against polio and achieve polio eradication. It’s a great pleasure to bring this announcement today, on World Polio Day 2024”.
Hossam Abdel Ghaffar, spokesperson for the Ministry of Health and Population of Egypt, explained that Bilthoven Biologicals is one of the leading Dutch companies in the field of transferring vaccine manufacturing technology, and this is the first time the company has transferred vaccine manufacturing technology outside Europe, in addition to the company providing all means of support in the steps of qualifying the vaccine to comply with good manufacturing conditions to ensure quality.
Sherif Al-Feel, Managing Director of the Holding Company for Biological Products and Vaccines (VACSERA), said that the injectable polio vaccine is one of the vaccines used to keep Egypt free of polio, adding that signing the cooperation agreement is a step towards localizing the vaccine industry and achieving self-sufficiency in the injectable polio vaccine, with the possibility of exporting the product to African countries. VACSERA is the state led producer of sera and vaccines in Egypt.
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