Stem cells needed for domestic production of AstraZeneca vaccine arrive in Brazil

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The stem cell and virus banks that will allow the vaccine developed by the Anglo-Swedish laboratory AstraZeneca to be produced locally and with total autonomy in Brazil arrived this Wednesday, June 2, in Rio de Janeiro, the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz) has advised.

The material – which allows the creation of the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API), a biological component considered the “heart” of the vaccine – arrived in Brazil just one day after the transfer of technology for the manufacture of the raw materials to Fiocruz was confirmed, thus giving the country total autonomy for the manufacture of the vaccine.

Fiocruz, the main medical research center in Latin America, has been producing the AstraZeneca vaccine in Brazil, but with API imported from other countries, especially China.

The high demand for immunizers due to the pandemic has delayed the deliveries to Brazil, which has twice had to paralyze twice the production of vaccines due to the lack of APIs.

According to Fiocruz, API production will start this month in Rio de Janeiro; however, the first vaccines produced 100% in Brazil will only be ready in October, since a series of stages and tests are required for the first batches and the approval of the National Health Regulatory Agency (ANVISA) until full-scale production.

The Bio-manguinhos campus, where the vaccine will be manufactured in Rio, has the capacity to produce API for about 15 million doses of vaccine per month.

According to vaccination data from the Ministry of Health, out of 212 million Brazilians, only 22 million have received the two necessary doses, while another 45.2 million have received only the first dose.

Also, according to the Government, about 30% of the vaccines applied in the country are those developed by AstraZéneca, while 65% are from the Chinese firm Sinovac, packaged locally by the Butantan Institute of Sao Paulo, while the rest are from the U.S. pharmaceutical company Pfizer.