Innovation spotlight · 30 September 2026 · 3 min read
Afrigen: the Cape Town lab building Africa’s own vaccine know-how
WHO’s mRNA technology transfer programme places Afrigen at the centre of developing and sharing vaccine manufacturing know-how. This is a capacity-building story, not a claim of current product approval.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Africa relied almost entirely on vaccines made elsewhere, and waited in line for them. It was a hard lesson: when something is scarce, the places that can make it are served first.
Chosen to lead
On 21 June 2021, the World Health Organization and the Medicines Patent Pool chose Afrigen Biologics, a Cape Town company led by Prof Petro Terblanche, to host a global mRNA technology-transfer hub. The plan: develop the know-how once, then share it with manufacturers in lower- and middle-income countries.
Built from scratch
Without a ready-made recipe handed over, the team developed its own mRNA vaccine from the ground up. The skills it built are now shared with partners in 15 countries through the programme.
A first for the continent
WHO’s programme description identifies Afrigen’s role in developing production technology for transfer to partner manufacturers. Current facility certification, trial status and regulatory product approval are outside the claims verified for this article.
Why it matters
Independence in health comes from capability, not only from money. Afrigen shows what happens when a local team is trusted with a very big problem and given the time to solve it.
Sources
Independent editorial summary, not a Launchpad campaign or endorsement. No affiliation is implied. Claims describe the cited source’s publication period, not necessarily current performance; sources checked 30 September 2026.
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