South Africa Launches Open-Access Pharma Facility to Boost Health Sovereignty, Correspondent Reports
South Africa Launches Open-Access Pharma Facility to Boost Health Sovereignty, Correspondent Reports
President Ramaphosa has opened FuturePharma, an open-access pharmaceutical innovation and manufacturing facility at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) campus in Pretoria, a Sputnik Africa correspondent reported.
Key Details:
The facility is designed to move promising research from the laboratory into scalable production, strengthening South Africa's pharmaceutical value chain.
South Africa currently imports 98% of its active pharmaceutical ingredients (API), leaving the country and the continent vulnerable to trade shocks and surges in global demand.
Local API production will help make medicines more affordable and allow South African companies to compete with international suppliers, Health Minister Dr. Aaron Motsoaledi told Sputnik Africa.
Collaboration between the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) and CSIR will bring complementary strengths under one roof to accelerate innovation and convert it into products that improve public health, SAMRC CEO, Prof. Ntobeko Ntusi, told Sputnik Africa.
The facility is open-access, meaning researchers, companies, and even other countries can use it to test and develop products before making investment commitments.
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