Vaccine contract winner Cipla says it saved health department R2.4bn
Company has a long history of supplying medicines to the state, including HIV treatments and measles vaccines
The health department’s unexpected decision to purchase pneumococcal vaccines from the local subsidiary of Indian generic pharmaceutical company Cipla instead of local vaccine manufacturer Biovac will save the government R2.4bn, Cipla said on Wednesday.
Biovac entered into a partnership with pharmaceutical giant Pfizer in 2015 to help make its pneumococcal vaccine, in the expectation that it would supply the state with the shots produced at its facility in Pinelands. But in a surprise move, the health department announced last week that it had switched to Cipla for the next three-year contract, which begins in 2024. Cipla’s SA subsidiary signed an agreement with the Serum Institute of India in 2015 to import its vaccines into SA...
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