The European Union and the Gates Foundation are set to announce a package of financial support for the fledgling African Medicines Agency (AMA), in a bid to boost production of drugs and vaccines on the continent, according to Reuters.
The agreement to establish the AMA entered into force in November, but the organization currently exists only on paper. Decisions about who will lead the organization and where it will be based are scheduled for this year.
The financial and technical support of the new organization is considered vital in order to be able to start its activities. This in turn will be a boost for the continent’s vaccine and drug industry, which needs a credible regulator to thrive.
The European Commission, Germany, France, Belgium and the Gates Foundation will invest more than 100m euros to support the AMA and African national regulators, a knowledgeable person told Reuters on Friday.
The aim is to enable these organizations to achieve what the World Health Organization (WHO) sets as a level of maturity 3 for vaccine production, which is “the WHO minimum requirement for effective regulatory oversight of quality local vaccine production”; said the official.
According to an internal European Commission document seen by Reuters, part of the money will be in grants and will also be donated to the European Medicines Agency.
It should be noted that just over 5% of medicines and 1% of vaccines, consumed by Africa’s 1.2 billion people, are produced locally.
Source: Capital
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