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Africa’s leaders want pharmaceutical autonomy. The continent is crafting a different vision for how innovation, intellectual property, and access to pharmaceutical products will play out.
Also in today’s edition: Climate adaptation finance must urgently increase — but how? And we explain how to wow recruiters at Tetra Tech.  |
Africa's leadership has embarked on a bold endeavor to ramp up pharmaceutical manufacturing on the continent. The aim? To create health security for its people that’s sturdy enough to withstand the many challenges ahead.
But establishing autonomy is no easy feat, and one big hurdle looms large: access to manufacturing licenses. With pharmaceutical patent holders mostly overseas, securing permissions is a complex task, and there aren’t enough partnerships with foreign entities to guide local producers.
On top of that, there’s a scarcity of trained personnel, inadequate infrastructure, a dearth of local research and development initiatives, feeble regulatory frameworks, and financial risks to potential investors.
The tides are slowly turning, however, and a lot of effort is being funneled into making this happen, writes Devex Senior Reporter Sara Jerving. As part of the push, experts gathered in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, for the first International Conference on Innovation, Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer in Africa’s Pharmaceutical Sector — hosted by the new African Pharmaceutical Technology Foundation, which was launched by the African Development Bank.
But there are no panaceas, and numerous barriers must be dismantled for things to fall into place, participants said. While power predominantly lies outside the continent — in the hands of multinational pharmaceutical giants — African nations have levers capable of reshaping the status quo.
“We are in a defining moment. We really need to make sure that we will not miss the opportunity,” says Michel Sidibé, the African Union special envoy for the African Medicines Agency. “We really need a paradigm shift … from a privilege-centered approach to a people-centered approach.”
Sara lays out just what’s needed to transform issues around intellectual property and technology transfer in Africa’s pharmaceutical manufacturing and gives the lowdown on the difficulties ahead.
Read: Inside the push to make intellectual property work for African pharma |
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