With $54 Million USD Seed Investment, Grupo Sura Launches VaxThera Biologic Pharmaceutical Developer In Colombia

In an early morning press conference today, theMedellín-based Colombian insurance conglomerate SURA announced the launch of a new company called VaxThera to develop biologic pharmaceuticals such as vaccines from Latin America.

Juan David Escobar – President of Seguros SURA

Sura is investing $54 million USD to launch the company, recruiting top human talent from in and outside of the region. The new company is developing 35,000 square meters (376,736 square feet) of production space, expects to hire 500 employees, and build a capacity of producing 100 million doses of vaccines or other biological medicines per year, said Juan David Escobar, the president of Seguros SURA.

“We seek to reach vaccine production self sufficiency and to guarantee the region’s biological products self reliance.”

The company will both import and distribute products, as well as manufacture and develop treatments.

“Vaxthera is a 100% Colombian company and with the support of Sura we are going to research create and develop vaccines and cures. We seek to reach vaccine production self-sufficiency and to guarantee the region’s biological self sufficiency,” says Jorge Emilio Osorio Benitez (above), the founding CEO of VaxThera.

“I started outside Colombia and I wanted to start an industry in Colombia, and with the support of Sura it is happening. One of our first products is a booster vaccine against SARS-COV-2. We will have the capacity to produce vaccines against Dengue, Chikungunya, Yellow Fever, Influenza and Zika,” added Osorio.

Osorio said that the company is in the process of analyzing site selection options, mentioning Bogotá and the Medellín suburb of Rionegro as possible locations.