South African-born billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong rents out part of vaccine plant as demand declines

South African-born pharma billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong has revealed plans to rent out part of his newly opened COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing plant in South Africa.

The news comes as vaccine demand falls and the pandemic transitions into an endemic phase as the virus becomes less destructive to society.

As daily inoculation rates fall to their lowest level since vaccinations first became accessible, biotech firms in Africa and around the world are struggling to find customers for their vaccines, including ImmunityBio, a late-stage immunotherapy company majority owned by Soon-Shiong.

Earlier this year, ImmunityBio, through one of its firms, NantWorks, opened a plant in South Africa under the name Nant SA with the aim to produce up to 1 billion COVID-19 vaccines annually by 2025.

The plant, which is based in Cape Town and is reported to be the first on the continent to create COVID-19 vaccines from start to finish, has not enjoyed considerable demand since its introduction more than seven months ago as vaccine mandates weakened across nations.

According to Shane Howe, Broll Property Group’s regional head of industrial brokerage, the plans are still in the design process and nothing has yet been developed. As a result, one of the two buildings on the A-grade site with contemporary offices and a warehouse are now offered for lease.

The lease listing comes nearly four months after another Africa-focused drugmaker, Aspen Pharmacare Holdings, announced plans to shift around half of its COVID-19 vaccine production capacity to other medicines if demand does not improve.

Aspen, Africa’s largest drug manufacturer led by South African billionaire Stephen Saad, stated that there is no purpose in sustaining capacity since demand for Aspenovax, the Aspen-branded COVID-19 vaccine, is non-existent.