Cairo, March 1st , 2022 — EVA Pharma, the innovation-led global healthcare company based in Egypt, has signed a cooperation protocol with the Egyptian higher education and scientific research ministry and the agriculture ministry on the production of a local COVID-19 vaccine, Egyvax, which is moving into the clinical trial phase and is in the process of getting approval from the Egyptian Drug Authority (EDA). 

Dr. Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, Egypt’s Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research and Acting Minister of Health and Population, and Dr. Al-Sayed El-Quseir, Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation, witnessed the signing of the tripartite cooperation protocol between the Supreme Council of University Hospitals, the Agricultural Research Center, and EVA Pharma, to manufacture and produce the new Egyptian COVID-19 vaccine, as well as to conduct the necessary clinical research to ensure the safety and efficacy of the vaccine.

In an address to mark the signing of the agreement, Dr. Abdel Ghaffar said that manufacturing the Egyptian COVID-19 vaccine is in line with the directives of His Excellency President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi to take all necessary precautions to help protect Egyptian citizens from the COVID-19 pandemic and to ensure that Egypt becomes one of the few countries that produce COVID-19 vaccines. The president’s directives to the government also included providing large quantities of vaccines from various international companies to secure citizens’ health.

Dr. Abdel Ghaffar described the cooperation between EVA Pharma and the research centers in the two ministries as a great example of cooperation between research entities and the industrial sector. It also shows that Egyptian scientific capabilities can help boost local industry, he said, given that the vaccine will be manufactured in sufficient quantities for local needs but may also be exported abroad. 

Dr. Al-Sayed El-Quseir noted that the ministries of higher education and agriculture possess research capabilities and scientific teams capable of isolating and inhibiting viruses, adding that cooperation will take place with EVA Pharma in the fields of research and development, manufacturing, packaging, distributing, and promoting the vaccine. He noted that EVA Pharma possesses the expertise, financial capabilities, passion and drive necessary to produce the new Egyptian vaccine.

For his part, Dr. Hossam Abdel Ghaffar, Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of University Hospitals, confirmed that the manufacturing process will start once the clinical trials show positive results.

EVA Pharma’s CEO, Dr. Riad Armanious, said that the ministries of higher education and agriculture will work on producing the "laboratory inhibitory viral antigen" which is one of the main steps in manufacturing Egyvax. The production of the vaccine will take place at EVA Pharma’s manufacturing facilities and will conform to the requirements of the Egyptian Drug Authority, the World Health Organization (WHO), and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for manufacturing a vaccine capable of preventing COVID-19 infection.

Regarding the introduction of the Egyptian vaccine to the local market, Dr. Armanious said that this will happen soon, after all stages of clinical research are complete and final approvals from the Egyptian Drug Authority are received. He explained that all the SARS-CoV-2 variants have been successfully isolated, even the Delta variant, and efforts are being intensified to isolate the Omicron variant, to obtain approvals and work on increasing the vaccine’s effectiveness in dealing with this strain.

He also highlighted EVA Pharma's work to open the largest vaccine production factory in the country in 6th of October City, with the latest international technologies and technical capabilities. "We have been working on its establishment for nearly two years, according to the latest scientific findings, and with the provision of the latest equipment and production lines, in cooperation with international entities specialized in the fields of designing and establishing vaccine factories, so that Egypt has the capabilities required to cover its local requirements, as well as providing export requirements to address any pandemics,” he said.

 EVA Pharma has taken risks in making major investments in its vaccine capacity, he noted, despite a lack of guarantees, with the aim of benefiting people both in Egypt and abroad.

He added that this achievement proves the research capabilities that exist in Egypt. There are three types of countries, he explained: countries that use research results, countries that import research and science, and countries that export research and science, pointing to the importance of cooperation between universities, research centers and industry. It presented a challenge in past years, but this puzzle was solved with pre-clinical research work and the presence of clinical trials, Dr. Armanious said, which gives patients hope that innovative solutions will be found.

This cooperation proves that Egypt has become a research-exporting country, he added, and it is also evidence of the strong research capabilities that enable cooperation between universities, research, and industrial institutions to provide a product that benefits society.

He pointed to the important role of Egypt’s new Clinical Research Law in ensuring the efficacy and safety of medical products.

He added that this achievement is an opportunity for international companies to work jointly with major Egyptian research and manufacturing entities such as EVA Pharma to address pandemics and viruses both locally and internationally, to cooperate to produce vaccines in Africa in the interest of the continent and the world at large, and to transfer modern technology to Egypt in order to cooperate in the manufacture of vaccines.

 

The cooperation protocol was signed by Dr. Hossam Abdel Ghaffar, Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of University Hospitals, Dr. Mohamed Suleiman, head of the Agricultural Research Center, and Dr. Armanious.