US global Aids co-ordinator John Nkengasong has urged African drug makers to explore the possibility of a regional manufacturing approach, to take advantage of the volume guarantees offered by his organisation.
This is 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 2-million HIV/Aids patients on antiretroviral (ARV) treatment to medicines made in Africa by 2030.
Pepfar is the world’s biggest HIV/Aids donor and is credited with saving more than 25-million 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. Because there was no market for that it closed that line of production,” he said.
“I think that’s a good example that says that you have to have that demand side facilitated by the politics. Good politics and policy to enable sustained production — otherwise it is 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 that there is a market”, he said.
He said Pepfar’s role was threefold.
One is to enable regulatory processes. “We are committed to strengthening regulatory processes on the continent so that a test that is produced or a medicine that is produced meets international standards.”
He said the second was to shape the market, building partnerships with the Global Fund and others so that they can also buy medicines made in Africa.
“Thirdly 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? They can enable that space where availing resources for capital,” he said.
Nkengasong is in SA for a series of events including a men and youth dialogue on HIV/Aids in SA. On Thursday he is expected to meet SA government officials and manufacturers on the Pepfar contribution to SA. Through Pepfar, the US government has invested more than R140bn in SA’s HIV response since 2004.
With Tamar Kahn
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