00:00The historic development and production of an oral cholera vaccine in South Africa,
00:11the first in five decades, kicks off a new era of not only the continent's health needs,
00:16but also the pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturing, which was prioritized following supply chain
00:21disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic.
00:24This is our third time lucky, and this is the first time that we are actually able to
00:28take a product into a thousand. So you can imagine, you know, just the emotions that encompass
00:33after many attempts of the failure.
00:35Africa imports over 70 percent of its medicines.
00:38This makes medicine expensive and supply unreliable, dependent on global supply chains.
00:44Making active pharmaceutical ingredients locally would reduce costs by cutting out import fees and shipping delays.
00:52It would also boost local economies by creating jobs and encouraging innovation.
00:57But no single technology is a silver bullet.
01:01A combination of traditional and modern methods tailored to local needs will be key to building a strong pharmaceutical sector.
01:09The South African pharmaceutical market is expected to generate revenue of about three and a half billion dollars in 2025.
01:17The main productive segments being generics, biologics, biosimilars and over the counter drugs.
01:24The main big pharma companies are Pfizer, La Roche, Novartis, Sanofi and Aspen Pharmacare Holdings.
01:31But there are up to 276 companies licensed by the Department of Health and the Medicines Control Council to import, manufacture, distribute or export pharmaceuticals.
01:44The objectives of our decadal plan is to build domestic capabilities for the discovery and the development and the manufacturing of the vaccines within the country.
01:56This aligns directly to the Africa's Union's goal for continental vaccine self-reliance.
02:04Africa imports almost all of its medicines.
02:07The continent now has a chance to change that reality.
02:11The situation of never again comes up in that how do we now start becoming self-reliant?
02:19So, yes, the cholera vaccine is what's being spoken about now, but it shouldn't be the first and the only.
02:24It needs to be a holistic industrialization attempt.
02:28But one of the biggest hurdles is getting the green light from the World Health Organization, which could take a few years before the vaccine can be manufactured on a large scale.
02:38Once you receive pre-qualification, then you are able to sell your products into Africa because it's a requirement that for a South African producer, for example, to export its vaccines to Rwanda or Burundi or any other African country, you have to have WHO pre-qualification.
02:59Africa wants to produce 60% of its own medicines in the next 15 years.
03:06While this vaccine is a step in the right direction.
03:09There's still much to be done before value chains and distribution networks can be built so that the continent can be on par with the rest of the world.
Be the first to comment