Africa CEO Forum 2022: new paths to prosperity
Young Africa: The continent imports about 80% of medicines and 99% of vaccines. How has the Covid-19 pandemic exposed the shortcomings of the pharmaceutical industry in Africa?
Amadou Alpha Sall : The pandemic has amplified a pre-existing situation, and highlighted the importance of health security from an economic and social point of view. We were confronted with a dynamic on a global scale. Everyone had to react quickly. The positive side is that we have become aware of the need to gain autonomy in our pharmaceutical industry. It was a big change. This resulted, in particular, in a major initiative led by the Africa CDC, which consists of a partnership around vaccines, sponsored by the Heads of State. And several projects have emerged around the production of vaccines.
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In three key points, what would Africa need to gain in pharmaceutical sovereignty?
Human resources, funding and strong political will. Funding already exists, but it is more directed towards other sectors, such as infrastructure or energy. It is important that more money is spent on the pharmaceutical industry – it is not necessarily a question of availability, but above all of its orientation. I would add that it takes technical expertise. We have been producing vaccines for over eighty years. In the case of medicines, several institutions in Africa manufacture generics. The expertise already exists, it must now be amplified.
There should be more mobilization around neglected issues, which do not necessarily present a promising market for large pharmaceutical companies. The Rift Valley Fever (RVF) vaccine, for example, is not widely distributed. It’s the same with Ebola. It is important to keep this in mind.
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The WHO announced in February 2022 that six African countries – Senegal, South Africa, Egypt, Kenya and Tunisia, Nigeria – will benefit from a messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine manufacturing program . What could this technology transfer change in the future?
mRNA, as we have seen with Covid-19, makes it possible to produce vaccines in a very short time. It is a flexible technology. The idea is that tomorrow, in the event of another global emergency, we can very quickly develop a vaccine, that Africa does not yet find itself in this situation where vaccines are manufactured in countries to which the continent does not don’t have access. This is for Africa to gain autonomy in its ability to develop vaccines, then to deploy them. Today, each country establishes its own roadmap in this area.
The objective is to ensure the local production of 60% of the routine vaccines administered in Africa by 2040
The Institut Pasteur is currently finalizing the construction of a vaccine manufacturing plant in Diamniadio – in association with BioNTech. What is its origin ?
The African Union and Senegal wanted to gain autonomy in the production of vaccines. The process was accelerated by the Covid-19. The objective is to ensure the local production of 60% of the routine vaccines administered in Africa by 2040. The Institut Pasteur in Dakar was chosen because it has already been producing a vaccine against yellow fever for more than eighty years. It is the only vaccine produced in Africa recognized by the WHO at the global level. The platform, which will have an annual capacity of 300 million doses, is expected to start operations in 2022.
What will come out of this factory?
We are working on three scenarios: a first, focused on the manufacture of vaccines against Covid-19, a second, where we would also produce other vaccines, and the third, where the 300 million doses would be assigned to other vaccines. , such as routine vaccines – measles, polio – or purely viral vaccines, in the case of Ebola epidemics, for example. We are 1.3 billion people on the continent. The objective is purely African. Depending on what we produce, the 300 million doses will be taken beyond Senegal and West Africa.
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You also intend to conduct research on vaccines, for example against malaria or tuberculosis?
Our platform has a partnership with the company BioNTech, which is working on several vaccines against malaria, tuberculosis or HIV. We intend to work together on these very important vaccines for our continent, but which are still at the research stage.
We must work together on production to cover all the needs of the continent
In South Africa, a year after its opening, the company Aspen Pharmacare already fears having to close its production line for vaccines against Covid-19, for lack of sufficient demand. What lessons can be drawn from this?
Market demand needs to be much better understood. If today Aspen does not sell, it is that there are donations and that, moreover, orders had already been placed outside. In a global market, if we want to support production in Africa, there must be incentives, support, support for these producers to emerge.
Then, when we talk about vaccine production, it’s not a question of quantity but rather of timing. You have to produce at the right time. If the 140 million doses of Aspen had been available at a time when everyone needed vaccines, the stock would have run out. You need to have local productions to be able to activity these abilities when the timing is most favorable. There must also be a concerted approach around these productions so that all of the continent’s needs can be covered.
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The Institut Pasteur in Dakar has already been producing vaccines against yellow fever for a long time. Has Africa achieved self-sufficiency in the production of this vaccine?
No, Africa is not self-sufficient, the world is not self-sufficient. For several years, this vaccine has been produced in very limited quantities, and UNICEF has been buying as many doses as possible to make them available to countries in need. The WHO and various partners are nevertheless conducting a program to increase manufacturing capacity. These are therefore sufficient as long as yellow fever remains confined to South America and Africa, but not if the epidemic were to spread. In general, there is, to my knowledge, no vaccine or medicine for which the African continent is self-sufficient.
What is the continental influence of the Institute?
Over the past ten years, the Institut Pasteur in Dakar has assisted some forty African countries, whether in the field of epidemics, diagnostics, training, risk assessment – for yellow fever for example. Beyond Senegal, the Institut Pasteur in Dakar works a lot with the WHO. For example, when Zika fever hit Brazil, we were, because of our expertise, one of the few teams to be deployed in Mexico and au Brazil.