Cape Town - With the Covid-19 vaccine demand at an all time low, manufacturing facilities have been affected, with a part of the NantSA vaccine manufacturing campus at Brackengate facility hailed by President Cyril Ramaphosa, now up for rent.
The A-Grade big box warehousing with modern offices measuring 1 670m² and a warehouse size of 10 860m² was lauded by Ramaphosa as “a milestone in Africa’s onward march towards health” when he opened it in January this year.
Now the facility, which has easy access to the R300 and the Cape Metropole and 130 parking bays, is looking for a tenant.
Ramaphosa and Dr Patrick Soon-Shiong, founder of the multinational conglomerate NantWorks launched the NantSA vaccine manufacturing campus to “accelerate domestic production of pharmaceuticals, biologics and vaccines that will reach patients across the African continent”.
Aside from Covid-19, the facility also aims to develop other vaccines to fight cancer, HIV and tuberculosis.
Broll Property Group’s head of industrial broking, Shane Howe, said: “The company that owns the buildings is looking to lease one of two buildings on the campus in the interim, while their production requirements scale up. The owners are currently in the design phase of the production facility. The reference to scaling up is to do with the design and commissioning of the facility.
“The property is available due to increased operational efficiencies, technological advances in manufacturing and reduced demand for Covid-19 vaccines.”
National Health Department spokesperson Foster Mohale said while demand was low for the Covid-19 vaccine, these facilities were still important to fight various diseases.
“Vaccine demand is at its lowest in South Africa and globally, hence we have more vaccine stocks. This is precisely because of low infections and mortality rates because of less severity and transmissibility of the current dominant virus.
“This has, on the other hand, affected vaccine production facilities, but the facilities remain an important and valuable investment because we can’t predict the diseases, especially with the emergence of Monkeypox. Everyone still needs to vaccinate. That’s how we got rid of smallpox and are so close to eradicating polio,” he said.
Broll Property added that the building was constructed 10 years ago, specifically for a tobacco company.
“The property, zoned for mixed-use, is situated in the most prominent position in the most sought-after industrial node in the Mother City. The asking price is R75 nett per square metre.”
NantWorks had not responded to requests for comment at the time of publication.
Cape Times