By Samira Larbie, GNA
Accra, Aug. 20, GNA – Eight Ghanaian research and development projects have received €2 million in grants to accelerate the local development and manufacture of medicines, vaccines and diagnostics under the Vax and Pharma-Ghana initiative.
The projects, involving Ghanaian research institutions and pharmaceutical companies, are expected to bridge the gap between scientific research and commercial manufacturing while strengthening health security and pharmaceutical industrialisation.
Mr Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, Minister of Health, said the PharmaVax Ghana Programme represented a deliberate effort to close the gap between laboratories and production lines.
“Scientific discovery achieves its full value only when it is developed, validated, manufactured at scale and made accessible to people who need it,” he said.
The Minister said recent global health emergencies and disruptions to international supply chains had demonstrated that local pharmaceutical production was a national health security imperative.
He said health sovereignty did not mean isolation but the ability to build national capacity through strategic and mutually beneficial partnerships.
Mr Akandoh urged the awardees to ensure that their research moved beyond academic
publications to products that met regulatory standards and improved health outcomes.
The grants were presented at a “Research Meets Manufacturing” award ceremony in Accra, co-hosted by the National Vaccine Institute (NVI) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).
The PharmaVax Ghana Programme is jointly funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the European Union (EU).
The eight projects were selected from 43 proposals following an assessment by an independent nine-member Ghanaian expert committee.
The evaluation considered technical merit, public benefit, participation of local manufacturers and the sustainability of the proposed research beyond the project period.
The projects will also receive technical assistance, networking opportunities and knowledge exchange to strengthen research capacity and support commercialisation.
Frederik Landshöft, Ambassador of Germany to Ghana, said the projects demonstrated Ghana’s potential to connect scientific excellence with a growing pharmaceutical industry.
He said the vision was for discoveries made in Ghanaian laboratories to be developed with Ghanaian companies, manufactured locally and eventually exported across West Africa.
“Made in Ghana, for Ghana, and from Ghana to West Africa,” he said, describing the ambition behind the initiative.
Mr Jonas Claes, Chargé d’affaires and Head of Political Section of the EU Delegation to Ghana, congratulated the awardees and said the grants carried significant responsibility because the outcomes could affect Ghana’s manufacturing capacity and the health of future generations.
He said the EU and Ghana shared a commitment to research-based policymaking, adding that advanced research was critical to the future of medicines and vaccines made in Ghana.
Under the programme, KNUST, Aspee Pharmaceuticals Ltd. and the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission received €300,000 to optimise a locally developed herbal pain medicine, with €150,000 in counterpart funding.
The University of Cape Coast and Kash Chemist Ltd. will receive €100,000 to develop a fast-dissolving malaria tablet for children.
The Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research and Atlantic Lifesciences Ltd. will receive €500,000 to generate stability data to support local production of tetanus-diphtheria vaccines and tetanus antitoxin.
The CSIR-Water Research Institute and Kantanka Herbal Pharmaceuticals and Research Centre Ltd. will receive €125,000 to study herbal treatments for alcohol-related liver disease.
The Centre for Plant Medicine Research, in partnership with Dodowa Health Research Centre and Atlantic Lifesciences Ltd., will undertake two projects with €340,000 in funding, covering a clinical trial for a locally developed prostate-health product and stability studies for a locally produced snake venom antiserum.
The West African Centre for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens (WACCBIP), University of Ghana, and its partners will receive €300,000 to use artificial intelligence to design and scale up monoclonal antibodies and diagnostics for Mpox and malaria.
Central University and Ernest Chemists Ltd. will receive €250,000 to develop and validate a standardised herbal treatment for hypertension.
Dr Sodzi Sodzi-Tettey, Chief Executive Officer of the NVI, said Ghana possessed the scientific talent, research institutions and growing pharmaceutical industry needed to develop health solutions responding to local priorities.
He said bringing researchers and manufacturers together was creating the foundation for medicines and vaccines “developed in Ghana, manufactured in Ghana” and capable of benefiting the wider region.
The Ghanaian partners are contributing an additional €425,000 towards implementation of the projects, bringing the combined investment to €2.425 million.
The PharmaVax Ghana Programme, implemented by GIZ, supports Ghana’s pharmaceutical sector through research and development, skills development, regulatory strengthening, private-sector support, technology transfer and investment promotion.
The initiative forms part of the Team Europe Initiative on Manufacturing and Access to Vaccines, Medicines and Health Technologies in Africa (MAV+), aimed at strengthening sustainable pharmaceutical and vaccine manufacturing capacity on the continent.
GNA
Edited by Kenneth Sackey
Reporter: Samira Larbie
[email protected]