The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the challenges around the supply of medicines to the developing world. Whether it be vaccines or drugs, the events of the past 12 months have exposed the inequities of the current supply model.
No country in Africa can sustain a market by itself. In the case of a single country manufacturing drugs for itself, where the market is large and therefore capable of sustaining a product – as in India, China and the United States – the situation is different. In Africa, which is made up many countries with different disease priorities and regulatory systems, a different commercial model is required.
If the continent wants to make its own quality-approved or World Health Organization-prequalified medicines, sustainability in portfolio balance has to operate on a regional or pan-African level. The economics do not work for a “one country, one drug” approach. Manufacturers will need a portfolio of medicines in different disease areas to balance the risk and make the business model work. It cannot, for instance, only be anti-retroviral .
The DSI, through the Technology Innovation Agency and North-West University, has created an active pharmaceutical ingredients cluster with the goal of driving innovation and funding in the API manufacturing sector. In addition, a Biologics API cluster platform was recently established at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research .
Source: Healthcare Press (healthcarepress.net)
Africa needs to realize thAt all local manufacture is possible if it sets this as a goal, rather than adopting a hand out /vengeance mentality.