Africa-EU Summit Science Dialogue Events

Green Medicines in Africa: Plant Molecular Pharming to fight the COVID-19 pandemic
Cape Biopharms, South Africa and M4F, Austria agree on mutual technology exchange for GMP manufacturing capacity building for the production of COVID-19 medicines

Agenda

Mr Declan Kirrane Moderator
11:00 Ambassador Mag. Martin Hojni Austrian Ambassador to the Political and Security Committee of the EU
11:07 Ambassador Tokozile Xasa South African Ambassador, Brussels (by video)
11:15 Signing ceremony plus Photos (Belinda Shaw and Kurt Zatloukal)
11:20 Dr Paul Ruebig Governing Board Member, European Institute for Innovation and Technology (EIT)
11:30 Prof Kurt Zatloukal M4F, Austria
11:40 Ms Belinda Shaw Cape Bio Pharms (Pty) Ltd, South Africa
11:50 Prof Eva Stöger University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU), Austria
12:00 Dr Alexandra Castilho University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU), Austria
12:10 Dr Amadou Alpha Sall L'Institut Pasteur de Dakar (IPD), Senegal
12:20 Dr Juan Miguel González-Aranda LifeWatch ERIC
12:30 Dr Michael Makanga, EDCTP
12:40 Eudy Mabuza Senior Science and Innovation Representative, US and SA Mission to the EU
12:50 Conclusion 


Cape Bio Pharms, South Africa and Medicines for Future (M4F), Austria will convene a session on "Green Medicines in Africa" within the context of the AERAP science meetings at the EU-Africa Summit. The session will be at 11 AM Brussels time, 15 February 2022. The meeting will be hybrid, with the possibility to participate virtually.

Among the various options to block SARS-CoV-2 infections by drugs, the inhibition of the binding of the virus to its receptor on human cells is one of the most promising approaches for COVID-19 therapy. This is mainly because the emerging virus variants are characterised by increased binding to the ACE2 receptor on the human cells due to natural selection. Consequently, drugs that mimic this receptor (so-called decoys) also show increased binding to the emerging virus variants, making the decoy more potent in neutralising the virus. Therefore, ACE2 decoys are among the few therapeutic options that naturally will become more efficacious in treating COVID-19 caused by new variants.
The drug to be developed by M4F is based on an ACE2 decoy with a markedly increased SARS-CoV-2 neutralising activity, optimized and widely tested in pre-clinical studies performed at the Medical University Graz. The potency of the ACE2 decoy is increased significantly as compared to conventional biotechnological production by its production in glyco-engineered plants, developed by the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU).
To quickly build up sufficient production capacities, M4F engages in several multinational partnerships. The first partnership to be signed is with Cape Bio Pharms located in South Africa and foresees mutual technology exchange for GMP production capacity building. This agreement is to be signed in the context of the EU-Africa Summit in February 2022. It should serve as a shining example to further develop the relations and exchange between Europe and Africa, in order to join forces fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.
Cape Bio Pharms licences commercial production to its subsidiary Cape Biologix Technologies, South Africa to produce commercial-scale volumes of a range of plant-based SARS-CoV-2 recombinant proteins for diagnostics and research applications. Cape Biologix Technologies Senegal will be a plant-based cGMP manufacturing facility for vaccine and therapeutic-grade proteins and is expected to come online in early 2024.