Africa Medicines for Africa’s Lenias Hwenda highlights the vast gaps in COVID-19 vaccine access globally, especially in Africa where just six percent of the population has been vaccinated. Hwenda argues that the time is now to boost the infrastructure for pharmaceutical manufacturing in Africa as a way out of this pandemic,…

Africa Three months after the World Bank announced a EUR 600 million loan to South Africa’s Aspen Pharmacare, the African continent has received more good news as it seeks to increase vaccine manufacturing know-how.   BioNTech, the company behind Pfizer’s mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine, sold under the brand name Comirnaty, recently announced…

Africa In a notable first, following successful pilot immunisation programmes in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi, the World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended that the RTS,S malaria vaccine be rolled out across sub-Saharan Africa and in other regions with moderate to high malaria transmission.   Financing for the pilot programme has been…

South Africa A roundup of the latest news from South African pharma, including Aspen’s impressive annual growth, Adcock Ingram’s full year profit drop, and Entos Pharma’s approval for Phase II clinical rials in South Africa for its COVID-19 DNA vaccine candidate. In addition, an African Union envoy says that vaccines made in…

South Africa With Africa struggling to vaccinate its populations against COVID-19, the World Bank – along with government institutions from the USA, Germany, and France – has intervened to loan South African firm Aspen Pharmacare EUR 600 million (USD 712 million) with the aim of increasing vaccine manufacturing know how across the…

South Africa The latest from South African pharma, including President Ramaphosa’s blunt criticism of Big Pharma, Aspen’s reception of USD 700 million in international financial aid, Adcock Ingram’s disappointing results as fewer elective surgeries and doctor visits hit their first half revenue, and the battle to bridge digital divide in COVID-19 vaccination…

South Africa South African firm Aspen has inked a deal with Johnson & Johnson for the technical transfer and proposed commercial manufacture of their COVID-19 vaccine candidate, Ad26.COV2-S, boosting the company’s share price as well as its global profile.   Aspen is best known internationally for bringing generic antiretrovirals for HIV to…

Opinion As COVID-19 threatens to derail more than a decade’s worth of hard-won gains in the fight against malaria, Dr Benjamin Pretorius, managing director at ERADA Technology Alliance, warns that diversions of malaria resources and interruptions to prevention programmes may cost thousands of lives.   Malaria still takes the lives of…

Covid-19 The South African affiliate of Indian pharma firm Cipla will begin manufacturing and distribution of remdesivir, a Covid-19 drug, in South Africa this month. The company’s priority is ensuring access to vulnerable populations in emerging markets.     Cipla South Africa has been granted a license to manufacture and distribute remdesivir,…

South Africa Below is a roundup of latest news from South Africa’s life sciences and healthcare industries, including a call to overhaul patent laws to allow better access to COVID-19 drugs, innovation for HIV and TB medication adherence, COVID-19 vaccine trials, gut microbiome testing and supply chain lessons from the pandemic.  …

Opinion Kelly du Plessis is CEO & Founder of Rare Diseases South Africa, a registered NPO born out of necessity when her oldest child was diagnosed with Pompe disease at 11 months old. Here she provides insights on where South Africa is at in terms of rare diseases and what needs…

South Africa Trailing behind South Africa’s pharmaceutical market in both value and growth, the nation’s medical device industry has long enjoyed minimal barriers to entry and easy market access. But, with imminent onset of a new regulatory regime, both local and multinational players of all sizes may have to start imposing stricter…