The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved the establishment of the African Pharmaceutical Technology Foundation for Africa’s access to technologies.

According to the bank, this is the manufacture of drugs, vaccines and other pharmaceutical products.

In a statement released Monday by the bank’s communications and external relations department, AfDB President Akinwumi Adesina described the development as a leap forward for Africa.

He said that with Africa importing over 70% of all the medicines it needs and consuming $14 billion a year, the establishment of the foundation was a major development.

Adesina said, “Global efforts to rapidly scale up manufacturing of essential pharmaceuticals, including vaccines, in developing countries, particularly in Africa, to ensure better access, have been hampered.

“This has been hampered by the protection of intellectual property rights and patents on technological know-how, manufacturing processes and trade secrets.

“African pharmaceutical companies do not have the prospecting and negotiation capacity, nor the bandwidth to engage with global pharmaceutical companies.

“They have been marginalized and left behind in complex global pharmaceutical innovations.”

He denounced the fact that out of 35 companies that recently signed a license with the American Merck to produce Nirmatrelvir, a drug against COVID-19, none were African.

According to him, no institution exists in Africa to support the practical implementation of Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) on non-exclusive or exclusive licensing of proprietary technologies, know-how and processes.

He expressed his optimism that the Foundation would fill the existing gaps once fully established.

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“It will be staffed with world-class experts in pharmaceutical innovation and development, intellectual property rights and health policy.

“He will act as a transparent broker advancing and negotiating the interests of the African pharmaceutical sector with global pharmaceutical companies and other pharmaceutical companies in the South,” the statement said.

He quoted Adesina saying, “Africa must have a health defense system, which must include three major areas.

“Revitalize Africa’s pharmaceutical industry, build vaccine manufacturing capacity in Africa and build quality healthcare infrastructure in Africa.”

The statement said African leaders have requested the AfDB to facilitate the establishment of the African Pharmaceutical Technology Foundation.

He said the AfDB president, who presented the institution’s case to the African Union at the Addis Ababa summit in February, said it was a bold move.

“Africa can no longer subcontract the health security of its 1.3 billion citizens to the benevolence of others.

“With this bold initiative, the African Development Bank has delivered on that commitment.

“This decision is a major boost to a continent’s health outlook.

“A continent that has been battered for decades by the burden of several diseases and pandemics such as COVID-19, but with very limited capacity to produce its own medicines and vaccines.

The statement notes that the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the World Health Organization (WHO), welcomed the bank’s decision to establish the foundation.

He quotes the Director General of the WTO, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who said: “The African Pharmaceutical Technology Foundation is an innovative thinking and action of the African Development Bank.

“It provides some of the infrastructure needed to ensure an emerging pharmaceutical industry in Africa.”

The statement also quotes WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus as saying that “the creation of the Foundation has been a game-changer.”