Who knew we had so many South African-born billionaires galivanting around the globe?
There’s the Pretoria-born, Mars-exploring, Tesla and SpaceX creator Elon Musk who, despite his South African roots, does not grace us with much recognition.
Fortunately, we have Dr Patrick Soon-Shiong, a Gqeberha-born pharmaceutical billionaire, looking out for his home country.
During a meeting with the World Health Organisation, Soon-Shiong committed to spending R3-billion in ‘transfer technology’ to allow vaccine production in South Africa.
This will include the production of vaccines against Covid-19, as well as other diseases, because he believes the country has the science, human capital and desire to produce vaccines.
Here are a few other things about this innovator that you might not know:
1. Early years
Soon-Shiong was born and grew up in then Port Elizabeth, now Gqerberha, the fifth of eight children. His parents had fled to South Africa from China’s Guangdong province following the Japanese invasion in 1937.
His parents owned a general dealership but his father was also a renowned herbalist making traditional Chinese medicine for the community.
2. Studies
He went on to study medicine at the University of Witwatersrand. After completing his medical internship at Johannesburg General Hospital, he moved to Canada to further his studies, eventually settling in the USA where he established his pharmaceutical business.
3. A trailblazer
He carried out the first successful whole pancreas transplant at the University of California and developed a type-1 diabetes treatment whereby islets from a donor pancreas are transplanted to a patient to stimulate insulin production.
4. Making billions
Worth around $6.8-billion, the start of his financial climb was his invention of the Abraxane, a drug widely used in the treatment of breast, lung and pancreatic cancer. In 2010, he sold Abraxis, his drug companies, to American Pharmaceutical Partners for $9.1-billion.
5. Onto the next one
NantKwest is his cancer drug producing company which he took public in 2015, and NantHealth is his biotech startup which went public the following year. NantWorks is another of his companies that consists of a network of health startups.
6. Media empire
It’s not all about medicine and pharmaceuticals for Soon-Shiong, he also has stakes in media houses, including Tribune Publishing, Los Angeles Times and the Los Angeles Lakers. He said his love for newspapers began as a child when he would head to the offices of the Evening Post, the EP Herald’s evening edition, watching the printing process.
7. Covid-19 vaccines
His company ImmunityBio was selected by the US federal government in 2020 for ‘Operation Warp Speed’ to speed up the development of a vaccine. ImmunityBio is also conducting Phase 1 vaccine trials in South Africa.
He told the WHO that South Africa has led the way in the genome analysis of Covid-19, helping explain the danger of variants.
With South Africa’s vaccination rate slower than even neighbouring African countries, Dr Patrick Soon-Shiong’s BioVac deal and ramping up of vaccination production will be most welcome – particularly ahead of the dreaded third wave of infections.
HAVE YOUR SAY
Like our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter.
For news straight to your phone invite us:
WhatsApp – 060 784 2695
Instagram – zululand_observer
