Avril Biopharma acquires USP-Ghana assets, launches African vaccine manufacturing technology push
ACCRA, GHANA, July 27, 2025 / EINPresswire.com / -- U.S. biotechnology company Avril Biopharma said on Monday it has acquired the assets of United States Pharmacopeia (USP) Ghana and established AfriVax GH Ltd to expand its contract development and manufacturing (CDMO) business in Africa. The company offers development services using hen eggs to produce valuable clinical, veterinary and food-security products. The acquisition comes as African leaders push for greater vaccine self-sufficiency in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and reductions in international support for capacity building in the African healthcare space.
Vaccine development milestone
Avril has collaborated with Ghana's biotech community since the COVID-19 pandemic, creating a partnership between Imperial College of London, Ghana's Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and other partners that won a 6.5-million-pound ($8.1 million) UK Research and Innovation grant in 2023. The UKVN Chanjo Hub consortium will catalyse vaccine & biologics manufacturing in Africa in a multi-pronged demonstration project.
The Chanjo Hub-Ghana group is demonstrating the end-to-end development of egg-cultured vaccines in Ghana and already has early Proof of Concept for candidate malaria, rabies and COVID19 vaccine antigens.
'Globally, hundreds of millions of doses of influenza vaccine are made in eggs every year,' said Dr. Eluemuno Blyden, Avril's CEO and inventor of its egg technologies. 'Making a malaria or Mpox vaccine using eggs would instantly benefit from decades of vaccine manufacturing technology and experience from all over the world.'
Self-Reliant capacity building
USP-Ghana was a full-fledged center set up to build the capacity of regulatory authorities and local pharmaceutical enterprises in Africa. Since its start in 2013, the Center has provided training to over 1,300 professionals from 45 African countries. Later, it was tapped to provide technical assistance on behalf of the Promoting the Quality of Medicines Plus (PQM+) USAID program which focused on capacity building for regulatory agencies across the Global South. The PQM+ program was closed due to changes in USAID priorities earlier this year.
'The closure of USP-Ghana's testing facilities could have been a significant loss for the African pharmaceutical ecosystem,' said Dr. Kwasi Boateng, former Director of USP-Ghana operations. 'Instead, the facility will now expand to become a key resource supporting the emerging biopharmaceutical sector in Africa.'
AfriVax has already signed agreements with Ghana's DEK Vaccines Limited, and Uganda's Vaccine Access Initiative to begin development of egg-made vaccines and diagnostic API reagents.
'By using existing agricultural value chains, some of the large upfront capital investments needed for biopharmaceutical manufacturing can go directly into the local economy on day one,' said Dr. George Ansah, an Avril board member.
About Avril Biopharma
Avril Biopharma is a recombinant biotechnology company that can develop egg-based vaccine and biologic products using ordinary hen eggs as natural bioreactors.
About AfriVax Ghana Ltd
AfriVax Ghana Ltd is a Ghana company established to provide Avril's CDMO services to the biopharmaceutical industry in Africa. The company operates from facilities in Accra's Dzorwulo business district, providing development, testing, training, and regulatory support services for biopharma manufacturers.
Dianne Job
Avril Biopharma Inc
+1 415-735-5846
[email protected]
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