South Africa enjoys a vibrant biotech industry with some companies specialising in research & development only and others having established manufacturing.

Due to the calibre of our local universities, many scientists qualify in various fields of sciences and biotechnology thus placing them on a par with their international counterparts. In many instances these scientists are lost to international firms and institutions as the local industry is fairly small. South Africa also faces an ‘innovation chasm’ between ideas developed in the research field and the commercial phase of development.

Litha Healthcare Group has identified this capability through The Biologicals and Vaccines Institute of Southern Africa (The Biovac Institute) which is a Public Private Partnership (PPP) with the Department of Health and Techology Innovations Agency (TIA) within the Litha Biotech Division. This PPP is focused on establishing local manufacturing capacity in the biotechnology area of vaccines as well as research and development.