PHM-Exch> THE BIRTH OF AFRICAN PHARMACEUTICAL TECHNOLOGY FOUNDATION

[Wilson Asibu]

ACESS TO MEDICINE CAMPAIGN DESK

*THE BIRTH OF AFRICAN PHARMACEUTICAL TECHNOLOGY FOUNDATION *

*African Development Bank unveils the African Pharmaceutical Technology
Foundation at the 2nd International Conference on Public Health in Africa*

*22-Dec-2022* Reported by Joyce Mulama, Communication and External
Relations Department, African Development Bank, Condensed for PHM by Wilson
Damien Asibu
[image: image.png]

(L-R) Aissa Toure, African Development Bank's country manager for Rwanda;
Prof. Padmashree Gehl Sampath, Special Adviser to the President on
Pharmaceuticals and Health, African Development Bank; Solomon Quaynor, Vice
President for Private Sector, Infrastructure and Industrialisation, African
Development Bank; Dr. Precious Matsoso, Co-chair of the International
Negotiating Body of the WHO on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and
Response; Prof. Banji Oyelaran-Oyeyinka, Senior Advisor to the President on
Industrialisation, African Development Bank; Dr. Yvan Butera, Rwanda
Minister of State in the Ministry of Health; Prof. Frederick Abbott, Edward
Ball Eminent Scholar Professor, Florida State University, USA; Nnenna
Nwabufo, African Development Bank's Director General for East Africa; and
Dr. Babatunde Omilola Olumide, Manager, Public Health Security and
Nutrition, African Development Bank.

The African Development Bank Group has formally introduced its new
initiative that will join hands with the African Union to boost Africa's
capacity to produce drugs, vaccines, diagnostics, and therapeutics all
along the value chain, to help build its pharmaceutical sector.

The African Pharmaceutical Technology Foundation (APTF) was the focus of a
forum hosted by the African Development Bank under the theme: “Technology
Access for Pharmaceutical Manufacturing: The African Pharmaceutical
Technology Foundation.” The event was part of the 2nd International
Conference on Public Health in Africa in Kigali, Rwanda, on 14 December.

According to the African Development Bank, the continent imports more than
70% of the medicines it needs at the cost of $14 billion annually. Changing
the game to enable African countries develop their capacity to manufacture
pharmaceutical products has public health, strategic and economic
rationales.

 “This new initiative comes as a solution, since most [African] countries
still face challenges in receiving [medicines] on time," Dr. Yvan Butera,
Rwandan Minister of State for Health, commented. The Foundation, hosted by
the Government of Rwanda in Kigali, is expected to commence operations in
early 2023.

In his opening remarks, Mr. Solomon Quaynor, Vice-President for Private
Sector, Infrastructure and Industrialisation at the African Development
Bank Group, said Covid-19 had exposed the gaps in Africa’s health care
system.

“The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed the fragility of global health systems
and the gaps in the production of critical drugs on the continent.” He
added: “The APTF is a ground-breaking institution that will significantly
enhance Africa’s access to technologies that underpin the manufacturing of
pharmaceutical products.”

Presenting the APTF at the event, Prof. Padmashree Gehl Sampath, Special
Adviser on pharmaceuticals and health infrastructure to Dr. Akinwumi
Adesina, President of the African Development Bank Group, stressed that the
Foundation was designed to help African countries bridge the technology
gaps in sustainable domestic manufacturing.

Prof. Sampath said: "Pharmaceutical companies in Africa have three specific
impediments to technology access: access to technology and related know-how
for production, mobilization of domestic resources for technological
upgrading, and the lack of possibilities for horizontal and vertical
product diversification. Many technological risks need to be indemnified to
build Africa’s pharmaceutical sector, including shifting away from a
product-by-product approach which puts African companies at risk.”

The co-chair of the International Negotiating Body of the World Health
Organization (WHO) on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response, Dr.
Precious Matsoso, reflected on how important technology issues are for
future pandemic preparation. She said establishing the African
Pharmaceutical Technology Foundation “would provide the much-needed support
to address technology barriers for equitable access.”

Describing the establishment of the Foundation as “timely,” given the
experience of Covid-19, Dr. Richard Hatchett, Chief Executive Officer of
the Coalition of Epidemic Preparedness Initiative, stressed that the
initiative “will help in saving lives on the continent”.

The Foundation, approved by the African Development Bank’s Board of
Directors in June 2022, is expected to boost Africa’s access to technology
for manufacturing the full range of pharmaceutical products, focusing on
building supply chains and expanding access to building block technologies
of various kinds.

The Foundation will also serve as a transparent intermediator advancing and
brokering the interests of the African pharmaceutical sector on the global
stage, to enhance access to proprietary technologies, know-how, and related
industrial processes, through licensing and other market-based and
non-market mechanisms.

The WHO, the Coalition on Epidemic Preparedness, the South Centre, Geneva,
and the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development of
Germany have expressed keen interest in working with the Foundation in the
coming year.

Another panelist, Prof. Carlos Correa, Executive Director of South Centre,
Geneva, said it was important for Africa to have its own framework that
will allow its pharmaceutical industry to develop. He said: “Intellectual
property confers monopolies, and these monopolies give rights to property
owners to control the sharing of technologies. Creating the capacity to
facilitate timely technology transfer to Africa is important.”

Panelists stressed the need to establish partnerships between African
pharmaceutical companies and their counterparts in other continents, such
as Europe.

Brigit Pickel, the Director General for Africa in the Germany Federal
Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, said Covid-19 brought
the focus back on how local manufacturing of crucial health products can be
improved. Germany welcomes the setting up of the APTF and its vital role in
addressing the bottlenecks in the technology and the market development
side, she added.

Prof. Fredrick Abbott, Edward Ball Eminent Scholar, Florida State
University, USA, spoke about how to truly create a successful
pharmaceutical sector: “You need a focus on intellectual property
management in the broad sense of the word…there also needs to be a focus on
promoting joint ventures such as those that have facilitated the creation
of many Covid-19 vaccines.”

PHM Access to Medicine Campaign will be sharing more on this African
Pharmaceutical Technology Foundation as we analyze what it means for Africa
and watch closely its discourse and impact on Africa’s access to medicine
and health for all agenda as well as the overall health of Africans.

About the People’s Health Movement

*What is the People’s Health Movement – PHM*

*The PHM is a global network bringing together grassroots health activists,
civil society organizations and academic institutions from around the
world, particularly from low and middle income countries (L&MIC). We
currently have a presence in around 70 countries. Guided by the People’s
Charter for Health (PCH), PHM works on various programmes and activities
and is committed to Comprehensive Primary Health Care and addressing the
Social, Environmental and Economic Determinants of Health.*

*The world is facing a global health crisis characterized by growing
inequities within and among nations and millions of preventable deaths,
especially among the poor. These are in large degree due to unfair economic
structures which lock people into poverty and poor health. In 2000,
concerned activists, academics and health workers got together for the
first People’s Health Assembly. *

*Vision of PHM:** “Equity, ecologically-sustainable development and peace
are at the heart of our vision of a better world – a world in which a
healthy life for all is a reality; a world that respects, appreciates and
celebrates all life and diversity; a world that enables the flowering of
people’s talents and abilities to enrich each other; a world in which
people’s voices guide the decisions that shape our lives….”*



*For Feedback:* Wilson Damien Asibu, PHM Access to Medicine Campaign,
Email:wilasibu at gmail.com

Joyce Mulama, Communication and External Relations Department, African
Development Bank, Email:  j.mulama at afdb.org
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