Shariah opportunity with Malaysia’s animal vaccine manufacturing

Shariah investments in healthcare rarely focus on vaccines, which the World Health Organization estimated to be valued at US$77 billion in 2024 – where Halal variants were valued at about US$2.76 billion. Vaccines for livestock – from poultry to beef and mutton – were valued at US$14.3 billion.

While Halal vaccines for humans have reputable firms like Malaysia’s Pharmaniaga and India’s Hilleman Laboratories producing a wide range of deterrents against maladies, from influenza to polio and diphtheria, there is hardly any giving an Islamic focus to livestock vaccines.

An exception is Malaysia’s Shariah-focused Bio-Angle Vacs (BAV), which has commercialized an intranasal vaccine for goats and sheep – to enhance food security for mutton production – competing in the multi-billion market dominated by giants like Zoetis and Merck.

The STVac7 vaccine, developed over 35 years at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at Universiti Putra Malaysia, is aimed at containing pneumonic pasteurellosis – which has become the main killer of small ruminants, the scientific term for sheep and goats.

The STVac7 replaces stress-inducing injections with a simple spray for livestock, aligning with the Halal tenets of Ikhtiar and animal welfare.

BAV is now looking to establish co-manufacturing facilities in markets that have already bought the vaccine – including Indonesia, China, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Chad, Tanzania, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Saudi Arabia – pitching this PE opportunity to corporates, institutions and family offices.

Negotiations are also underway with Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Turkiye, BAV CEO Noor Shazreena Ishak shared with IFN Investor. The investment required for each market would depend on the estimated size of domestic production, related infrastructure and other costs.

“We are pursuing strategic partnerships with host governments, sovereign-backed institutions and reputable local industrial partners.” Shazreena said the collaborators would provide funding and development while BAV retains proprietary technology.

The target market for this vaccine is 1% of the global goat and sheep population, of about 24 million animals. With animals being recommended vaccination twice yearly, Shazreena said BAV is eyeing gross annual sales of US$160 million for its product.

UPM tests have shown a 98% success rate in containing the infection – which kills over 30% of the world's goat and sheep populations. With the spray delivery, farmers can self-administer doses without a vet, at five times the pace they would be able to using needle-based vaccines.

Beyond its efficacy against another common malady of Mannheimia bacterial infections, this vaccine’s ambient-temperature stability also eliminates the need for refrigeration – a critical breakthrough for the Global South, Shazreena said. "In most tropical climates, a shelf is all you need for storage.”