Minister Pandor's speech at the Innovative Pharmaceutical Association South Africa (IPASA) first Innovative Medicines Summit, Hyatt Hotel, Rosebank, Johannesburg
It gives me great pleasure to welcome you all to this inaugural summit on pharmaceutical innovation.
This meeting is an important opportunity to bring together participants from South Africa and abroad in the interest of research, development and new medicines.
The development of a strong and vibrant worldwide pharmaceutical industry is of enormous importance to Africa.
For healthcare systems, the development and provision of high quality medicinal products has saved lives, improved life expectancy and enhanced the quality of life for so many people.
The debilitating effects of conditions such as asthma, diabetes, ulcers, cancer and mental illness have been alleviated by the tremendous advances that have been made in the area of medicines.
Despite this progress, many people in developing countries continue to lose their lives due to the lack of access to medicines. Though we acknowledge that there are many factors that contribute to inadequate access to health care in developing countries, the lack of access to medicines constitutes a serious barrier, which is worsening every day.
Our scientists are part of a global community that seeks opportunities for new treatments to address unmet medical needs. I think particularly of gene therapy, cell therapies and tissue engineering.
Such work will prove useful if we can develop strategic mechanisms aimed at turning fundamental research findings into innovative treatments that are not only available but also accessible to patients who need these medicines.
Indeed, all of us have a critical role to play in guaranteeing the leadership and cooperation required to ensure that advances in science and medicine will alleviate suffering and meet the critical medical needs of the millions of people on the continent.
The Department of Science and Technology has developed, over the last decade, what we call the ‘Farmer to Pharma grand challenge’.
It's an ambitious plan to become a world leader in biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, based on our indigenous knowledge and expanding science base.
It involves taking the necessary initiatives and building the necessary infrastructure to improve the drug-development value chain. This includes medicinal chemistry, high-throughput screening, preclinical testing facilities and capabilities and the manufacturing of active pharmaceutical ingredients.
We have a number of platforms (Centres of Competence and Centres of Excellence) aimed at stimulating and coordinating research activity particularly in the areas of HIV/AIDS, malaria and TB. Typically, these initiatives play a coordinating role in setting a disease-specific R&D agenda, raising funds and managing R&D projects.
Importantly, they have the primary purpose of stimulating product-oriented innovation. The objective is to minimise the innovation gap and to create opportunities for the commercialisation of products and services that will reduce the burden of diseases affecting the majority of our people.
Building on existing networks and creating new synergies, South Africa also collaborates in this regard with partners in both developed and developing countries, including research institutions, governments, pharmaceutical and biotech companies, and international organisations.
The pharmaceutical sector is vital to the South African economy and to our science base, and it will continue to be a key component in the enormous health challenges that will dominate our research and development agenda for the foreseeable future.
Given the challenges of innovation, continued R&D progress requires robust support in the form of strong patent protection incentives and cooperation. The relationship between intellectual property and the protection of public health has been a major issue of debate in several international forums, particularly at the World Trade Organization and the World Health Organization.
South Africa has sought to address intellectual property issues in such a manner that will complement existing mechanisms without stifling innovation. We are also striving to create a positive environment that will encourage innovative companies to invest in South Africa for pioneering research - and to go on to develop and manufacture their innovations in South Africa.
To strengthen our existing health innovation projects and to learn from the experiences of others, we have forged a number of mutually beneficial international partnerships.
One such partnership is the Grand Challenges South Africa partnership, aimed at reducing the burden of preterm birth and addressing the causes of deaths in women during pregnancy and childbirth.
Another is the Strategic Health Innovation Partnerships (SHIP), which facilitates collaborative research dedicated to addressing the burden of HIV, AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and non-communicable diseases, and helps to secure international research and financial partnerships to drive R&D efforts.
In 2014, the SHIP and the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health, or PATH, launched a partnership called the Global Health Innovation Accelerator. This partnership aims to fast-track the most promising technologies to address the health needs of low-resource communities. It will connect the funding, scientific and technical expertise of global partners with local scientists and innovators to accelerate product development.
These partnerships reflect a changing world. Our problems are also our neighbour’s problems. HIV-Aids, malaria and tuberculosis are on the rise in regions previously considered to be safe from their disease burden, whilst non-communicable including lifestyle diseases now have a devastating impact in the developing world.
More than ever we need greater global solidarity. Nowhere is this more evident than the huge discrepancies with regard to access to affordable healthcare citizens of our planet are faced with, often merely determined by the fortune or misfortune of where one is born.
It is not only the nature of our challenges, which are changing, but also the actors involved in responding to them. In health research and innovation, the role of non-state actors such multinational companies have become essential, informing the need for new and innovative models of public-private partnerships. State actors too are changing. Emerging economies have stepped up their investment in health research and innovation and new South-South alliances offers new options for international cooperation.
As we seek to understand and respond to these changes, I can assure you that the role of science, technology and innovation as instruments for sustainable development is firmly on the political agenda. Despite the constraints of the economic crisis, many countries have increased their national research and innovation investment.
Developing countries today are at the forefront of global scientific discovery as highlighted for example by the pioneering work undertaken in South Africa in areas such microbicides to prevent HIV-Aids, as well as drug and vaccine development for malaria and tuberculosis. This is evidenced by the full participation, including as funding parties and equal partners, by South Africa and other African countries in the European Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership.
Ladies and gentlemen the discussions that you will have at this summit meeting will make a significant contribution to Africa’s pharmaceutical innovation programme.
It’s for this reason that I believe a close interaction amongst the participants who are here today is essential for strengthening pharmaceutical innovation and improving access to essential drugs, diagnostics, vaccines and medical devices in Africa.
I hope this summit will allow you to strengthen collaboration that is already in progress, and identify new areas of common interest within Africa as well as globally.
Your participation in this event is greatly appreciated.
