26/08/2024
Liselo Labs’ new vaccine manufacturing technology development kicks off together with the CSIR following the third round of funding awarded by the DTIC in August 2024.
Liselo Labs - Hilton SA has developed a patent-pending technology that aims to significantly reduce the cost and complexity of vaccine manufacturing. This research work, conducted in collaboration with the Biopharming Research Unit at the University of Cape Town (UCT-BRU), was funded by the The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition South Africa Technology and Human Resources for Industry Programme (THRIP) in 2020.
Africa currently produces just 1% of its own vaccines, which the African Union’s Africa CDC aims to increase to 60% by 2040. The technology developed by Liselo Labs may become a key enabler on this journey, as it is locally developed, optimized for local vaccine manufacturing technologies in plants and may allow for more cost-effective manufacture of vaccines and immunotherapies in Africa.
Vaccines are typically manufactured in large stainless steel bioreactors which make up approximately 30% of the overall cost of production, excluding fill & finish and logistics. The remaining 70% of the cost is incurred through purification of the vaccine from the contents of these bioreactors so that they can be safely administered to people and animals. The DTIC-THRIP is now funding Liselo Labs to evaluate innovations with the South African CSIR and aims to significantly reduce this purification cost. This work includes follow-on development of the purification technology which was one of the outputs of Liselo Labs’ first round of funding by the DTIC-THRIP. That funding supported four postgraduate student bursaries (MSc and PhD), employment of multiple science graduates and research work conducted to improve the industrialization potential of these innovations. The new round of funding awarded to Liselo Labs in 2024 will now focus on demonstrating the technology working at an industrial scale at the CSIR, and optimizing it for commercialization.
Liselo Labs is a South African Research and Development company, with operations in the SADC region. Key focus areas for research include new vaccine development, antibody manufacture, clinical evaluation in humans and animals, clinical diagnostics and the large-scale manufacture of biologics.
Liselo Labs is pleased to be part of the Imperial Chanjo Hub, whose vision is to catalyze the African vaccine manufacturing ecosystem by fostering home-grown vaccines and biologics. The Chanjo Hub is part of the UK Vaccine Network and receives funding from UK Research and Innovation.
The CSIR, under the Department of Science and Innovation, is a leading research, development, and implementation organization in Africa. Established by an Act of Parliament in 1945, the CSIR conducts targeted, multidisciplinary research and technological innovation to enhance the quality of life for all South Africans.
Dr Blade Nzimande, Minister of Science,Technology and Innovation of South Africa announced VIMS today at the BIO Africa BioAfrica24 conference in Durban. This Vaccine Innovation Manufacturing Strategy (VIMS) seeks to address social inequity in access to health and correlate economic growth with citizen Health. Liselo is proud to be a part of this journey.
Liselo Labs’ hard working management team include David Jarvis, Sehapa Moeletsi, Michael Cross and Kimberley Labuschagne
