US global Aids co-ordinator John Nkengasong has called on African pharmaceutical companies to investigate the possibility of a regional manufacturing approach, to take advantage of the volume guarantees offered by his organisation.
Speaking on a visit to South Africa last week, and referring to local drug companies, he said “good politics and policy will enable sustained production, otherwise it is a white elephant factory”.
This comes as local manufacturers continue to push for the US President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (Pepfar) to expand on its promise made in December 2022 to shift at least 2m HIV/Aids patients on antiretroviral (ARV) treatment to medicines made in Africa by 2030.
Pepfar, the world’s biggest HIV/Aids donor, is credited with saving more than 25m lives with the more than $110bn it has provided over the past two decades to the countries hardest hit by the disease, including SA.
Though Sub-Saharan Africa is home to two-thirds of the world’s HIV/Aids burden, less than 1% of the $750m spent by Pepfar each year on HIV/Aids-related commodities goes to products sourced from the continent.
“That’s what we hope to achieve, to capitalise and stimulate activities that would take advantage of the volumes [and] guarantees that the manufacturing is backed by a strong market demand,” Nkengasong told Business Day.
“SA was at the heart of Covid; Aspen in Port Elizabeth (Gqeberha) was producing the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. But because there was no market for that, it closed that line of production,” he said. “You must have that demand side facilitated by the politics… otherwise it becomes a white elephant factory.”
Pepfar would not be directly involved in the manufacturing of ARV treatment, “but what we are trying to do is to guarantee volumes that look … to ensure there is a market”, he said.
Pepfar’s role was threefold, he added, the first being to enable regulatory processes; the second being to shape the market, building partnerships with the Global Fund and others so they can also buy medicines made in Africa.
“Third is the partnerships. How do we facilitate partnerships with the private sector, like the regional banks, the African Development Bank, the (African Export-Import Bank) and others?” he said.
BusinessLIVE article – African drug makers urged to adopt a regional approach (Restricted access)
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Pepfar boss pledges ongoing support to SA in HIV/Aids fight
SA urges Pepfar to buy more African HIV/Aids drugs
US to buy African-made ARVs for Pepfar programme