AfDB approves establishment of African Pharmaceutical Technology Foundation to boost sector's industry

CAIRO - 27 June 2022: The African Development Bank(AfDB)’s Board of Directors approved Monday the establishment of the African Pharmaceutical Technology Foundation.

 

The AfDB clarified that the new foundation will significantly enhance Africa’s access to the technologies that underpin the manufacture of medicines, vaccines, and other pharmaceutical products.

 

It noted that the decision is a major boost to the health prospects of a continent that has been battered for decades by the burden of several diseases and pandemics such as Covid19, but with very limited capacity to produce its own medicines and vaccines. 

 

Africa imports more than 70 percent of all the medicines it needs, gulping $14 billion per year, according to the bank’s statement.

 

“This is a great development for Africa. Africa must have a health defense system, which must include three major areas: revamping Africa’s pharmaceutical industry, building Africa’s vaccine manufacturing capacity, and building Africa’s quality healthcare infrastructure,” AfDB President, Akinwumi Adesina said.

 

According to AfDB’s data, the African Pharmaceutical Technology Foundation will be staffed with world-class experts on pharmaceutical innovation and development, intellectual property rights, and health policy; acting as a transparent intermediator advancing and brokering the interests of the African pharmaceutical sector with global and other Southern pharmaceutical companies to share IP-protected technologies, know-how and patented processes.

 

The Foundation will prioritize technologies, products and processes focused primarily on diseases that are widely prevalent in Africa, including current and future pandemics. It will also build human and professional skills, the research and development ecosystem, and support upgrading of manufacturing plant capacities and regulatory quality to meet World Health Organization standards.

 

It will also boost the African Development Bank’s commitment to spend at least $3 billion over the next 10 years to support the pharmaceutical and vaccine manufacturing sector under its Vision 2030 Pharmaceutical Action Plan. The Foundation’s areas of work will also be an asset to all other current investments into pharmaceutical production in Africa.

 

Moreover, It will strengthen local pharmaceutical companies to engage in local production initiatives with systematic technology learning and technology upgrading at the plant level. 

 

The Foundation will work with African governments, research and development centers of excellence to strengthen the regional pharmaceutical and vaccine innovation ecosystem for Africa and build skills of the kind needed for the pharmaceutical sector to flourish. 

 

It will also promote closer coordination of the various ongoing medicines and vaccines’ manufacturing initiatives at the regional level to increase collaborative linkages, leverage synergies and partnerships in a pan-African context.

 

The African Pharmaceutical Technology Foundation will work closely with the African Union Commission, European Union Commission, the World Health Organization, the Medicines Patent Pool, the World Trade Organization, philanthropic organizations, bilateral and multilateral agencies and institutions, and will foster collaboration between the public and private sectors in developed countries and developing countries. 

 

Rwanda will host the African Pharmaceutical Technology Foundation. A common benefits entity, the Foundation will have its own governance and operational structures. It will promote and broker alliances between foreign and African pharmaceutical companies. 

 

The World Trade Organization  and the World Health Organization, respectively, welcomed and lauded the African Development Bank’s decision to establish the African Pharmaceutical Technology Foundation.