A renowned vaccinologist and founder of Innovative Biotech Nigeria, Dr Simon Agwale, Wednesday, told THE WHISTLER that the renewed threat of Ebola in Nigeria is another urgent reminder that “our country cannot continue to depend entirely on foreign nations for the development and supply of lifesaving vaccines”.
Agwale, who doubles as Vice Chairman of the African Vaccine Manufacturing Initiative (AVMI), spoke against the backdrop of the reported Ebola case in Abuja on Tuesday. He said while immediate public health measures, such as surveillance, contact tracing, isolation, and appropriate clinical management remain essential, Nigeria must begin to address the fundamental challenge of developing and manufacturing our own vaccines.
He said, “Ebola remains one of the world’s most dangerous infectious diseases, with outbreaks capable of causing substantial loss of life and disrupting healthcare systems and economies. Although vaccines have been developed and licensed against the Zaire Ebola virus, there is currently no specifically approved vaccine against the Bundibugyo Ebola virus. This gap underscores the urgent need for African countries, particularly Nigeria, to invest in vaccine research and development targeting multiple Ebola virus species.”
On efforts being made by his agency to fill the gap, the virologist said, “At Innovative Biotech Nigeria, we are already taking concrete steps to address this challenge. We are developing an end-to-end vaccine research and manufacturing facility in Nigeria, designed to provide capabilities spanning vaccine research, process development, drug substance manufacturing, and final vaccine formulation and fill-finish operations. This facility will support the local production of vaccines against priority infectious diseases and strengthen Nigeria’s capacity to respond to future epidemics.”
He said Innovative Biotech already has a candidate vaccine targeting the Zaire Ebola virus. “We believe that the underlying vaccine platform can be rapidly adapted to incorporate antigens from the Bundibugyo Ebola virus, providing a potential pathway toward developing a vaccine candidate against this strain. Such adaptation would require appropriate antigen design, laboratory evaluation, preclinical studies to establish safety and immunogenicity, and subsequently carefully regulated clinical trials to determine safety and efficacy in humans,” he said.
He said the opportunity fits directly into the agency’s ongoing efforts to establish a fully integrated vaccine development and manufacturing facility in Nigeria.
Quoting him, “Rather than waiting for international manufacturers to develop vaccines and supply them to Africa during future outbreaks, Nigeria has an opportunity to build the scientific and manufacturing capabilities necessary to develop its own solutions.”
He said achieving this objective requires deliberate and sustained government support. “Vaccine development and manufacturing are capital-intensive undertakings that require significant investments in specialized infrastructure, advanced technologies, highly skilled personnel, clinical development, and regulatory systems. The private sector cannot be expected to shoulder these responsibilities alone, particularly when the benefits extend far beyond commercial returns to national health security.”
He called on the federal government of Nigeria to provide the necessary financial, institutional, and policy support to domesticate this critical intervention.
According to him, “Specifically, government support should facilitate the establishment of Innovative Biotech’s end-to-end vaccine manufacturing facility, accelerate the preclinical development of its Ebola vaccine platform against the Bundibugyo strain, and support subsequent clinical development in collaboration with Nigerian research institutions and regulatory authorities.”
He said the investment would not only strengthen Nigeria’s preparedness against Ebola but also establish a sustainable platform for developing vaccines against other epidemic-prone diseases, including Lassa fever and emerging viral infections.
In his words, “Nigeria has the scientific expertise, human resources, and institutional capacity to become a major contributor to vaccine innovation in Africa. What is urgently needed is the political commitment and financial investment to translate these capabilities into practical solutions.”
Nigeria and indeed Africa must move beyond responding to outbreaks after they occur, Agwale said, adding that, “We must build the capacity to prevent and confront future epidemics through homegrown vaccine innovation and manufacturing”.
He stressed that “the time to act is now”, noting that, “Investing in domestic vaccine development and manufacturing is not merely an investment in biotechnology; it is an investment in Nigeria’s health security, economic resilience, and the lives of future generations.”