EVA Pharma, DNA Script and Quantoom: what an end-to-end mRNA line in Egypt would involve

Primary source Quantoom Biosciences: MoU signed between EVA Pharma, DNA Script, Quantoom Biosciences 5 Feb 2025

100 million

On 5 February 2025, EVA Pharma, France’s DNA Script and Belgium’s Quantoom Biosciences signed a memorandum of understanding in Cairo to develop what they call a “digital-to-biologics, end-to-end mRNA production platform” in Egypt. The announcement is more than a year and a half old and a memorandum is not a plant, so this piece reads it as context for process engineers: what each partner brings to the process train, what the stated scale means in kilograms of drug substance, and what the release leaves open. An earlier version of this page described the project as AI-powered. The release does not support that framing, as explained below.

What was signed

According to the release, the MoU was signed on the sidelines of the 2nd Vaccine and Other Health Products Manufacturing Forum for African Union Member States, organised by Africa CDC and hosted by the Egyptian United Procurement Authority (UPA). The scope covers nucleic acid-based vaccines and therapeutics, including mRNA and saRNA vaccines for human and animal health, with a stated focus on next-generation saRNA vaccines under a One Health approach.

• Shared vision: 100 million doses of RNA-based vaccines a year.
• Policy context cited by the partners: Africa CDC’s target of 60% local vaccine production by 2040 and Egypt’s goal of 385 million vaccine doses a year by 2030.
• Unizima, a consultancy for bioproduction facilities, says it supports the technology transfer to Egypt.

The process train, block by block

DNA template. DNA Script contributes its enzymatic DNA synthesis technology. In the release, its CEO says the aim is to reduce the time needed to produce DNA templates and to enable longer and more complex DNA sequences. No figures are given for either.

mRNA drug substance. Quantoom contributes its Ntensify mRNA synthesis technology. Quantoom’s product page describes the process as starting from a linear DNA template, with a one-pot in vitro transcription (IVT) reaction using co-transcriptional capping, followed by a single purification step with silica-based magnetic beads that is automated within the equipment. The output is purified naked RNA, ready for sterile filtration before formulation. Quantoom states a synthesis yield of 5.6 mg/mL, an average capping efficiency of 94.8% and 60% less capping reagent than post-transcriptional capping with a purification step. These are vendor figures, not data from the Egyptian project.

Formulation. The release names Quantoom’s Ncapsulate technology for formulation. The same release says Quantoom is “also developing” Ncapsulate for mRNA-LNP formulation and purification, so at signing this block was still in development.

GMP manufacturing. EVA Pharma brings vaccine development, sterile GMP manufacturing and commercialisation. Its CEO cites an operational biologics site producing 100 million vials and 1.5 billion doses of animal health vaccine already commercialised. The company description lists four manufacturing facilities and an mRNA Innovation Hub covering antigen selection, construct design, process development, formulation and analytical method development.

Where AI actually appears

The only mention of AI in the release is in EVA Pharma’s company description, which refers to mRNA research and development “from AI prediction to biologic products”. Nothing in the release, and nothing on Quantoom’s product page, describes AI running the production process. Quantoom attributes its process design to Design of Experiments (DoE) and years of optimisation.

What 100 million doses means in kilograms

Quantoom rates its Ntensify midi system, the clinical and commercial unit on its product page, at 0.1 to 4 g of mRNA per batch and up to 15 million doses a year, assuming 50 µg per dose. At that same 50 µg assumption, 100 million doses would be 5 kg of mRNA drug substance a year, about 6.7 times the midi’s rated 15 million doses a year (our arithmetic from Quantoom’s figures). The release does not state a dose size, and the real mass depends on it, so the 5 kg figure is an order of magnitude, not a plan.

What the release does not say

• Where in Egypt the platform would sit, or its floor area and equipment list.
• Any investment figure or funding source.
• A timeline for GMP start-up or the first batch.
• The dose size or the first product.

Quantoom’s news page, which lists items from March 2025 to September 2026, shows no follow-up announcement on the Egyptian platform (checked on 26 September 2026).

What it means for a plant

An integrated vendor platform moves the technology transfer question from individual unit operations to the platform as a whole. The buyer inherits a design space built on the vendor’s DoE work, so comparability data, reagent supply and change control on ready-to-use mixes become part of the process risk. Quantoom says its reagent mixes come with a certificate of analysis and, for GMP production, additional certificates for bioburden, endotoxins and RNase. Because the Ntensify process starts from a linear DNA template, the template supply chain (here, DNA Script’s enzymatic synthesis) is the first link to qualify. For anyone tracking regional capacity, a MoU of this kind becomes a capacity entry only when a site, a budget and a start-up date are published.