Description of the AERAP Science Session“Plant Molecular Pharming in Africa”Mr Declan Kirrane ISC Intelligence, Moderator
Dr George Owusu Essegbey Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Ghana, Co-Moderator
Speakers
Prof Kurt Zatloukal Medicines4Future (M4F) and Medical University of Graz, Austria
Ms Belinda Shaw Cape Bio Pharms, Cape Town, South Africa
Prof Josef Glössl M4F and University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU), AustriaAs a result of widespread economic inequities, millions of people in
low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) lack appropriate access to medicines because the domestic biopharmaceutical production capacity is limited. High global demand of biopharmaceuticals (vaccines or medicines) leads to a supply shortage, with detrimental consequences for the health of LMIC populations. A route forward to improve accessibility and affordability to medicines in LIMC and the resilience against future global pandemics is to build local medical infrastructure, including manufacturing infrastructure to produce biopharmaceuticals locally and to educate skilled people capable of managing emergency situations in public health.
The COVID-19 pandemic clearly showed that globally centralized approaches to vaccine development, manufacture and distribution were inefficient and unequal. Therefore, new approaches to global collaboration and capacity building are urgently needed. Low- and middle-income countries currently depend on biopharmaceutical suppliers located in a few developed countries. Diversifying biopharmaceutical production into technologies that are less dependent expert staff and specialized infrastructure can reduce production costs and improve the regional independence of these countries from global supply chains.
Plant Molecular Pharming (PMF), a technology platform for the production of biopharmaceuticals in plants, will be highlighted in the session as one such diversifying option. PMF is an innovative and versatile technology platform to achieve a simple, scalable and low-cost yet versatile and reliable production of biopharmaceuticals. For example, therapeutic proteins for the treatment of infectious and non-communicable diseases as well as diagnostic agents can be produced within a few weeks. The potential and challenges of PMF will be reviewed, emphasizing future opportunities to utilize PMF as an innovative technology platform with low entry barriers for dethe -centralized production of biopharmaceuticals in countries where better accessibility to medicines and vaccines at affordable prices is urgently needed. As tangible examples, the South-African based company Cape Bio Pharms, pioneers in plant-based production of recombinant proteins, as well as the concept of the Austrian initiative Medicines for Future (M4F) for developing a modular, scalable container-based manufacturing facility for the production of biopharmaceuticals using PMF will be presented.
Importantly, international equal partnerships between countries for jointly developing manufacturing infrastructure will require accompanying collaborations aiming at the education and training of skilled people for qualifying them as workforce for plant-based pharmaceutical production facilities in low- and middle-income countries. This concerted approach will ultimately lead to the creation of new qualified jobs in these countries. It will also reduce the risk of disrupted supply chains, as experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Taken together, the collaboration model to be discussed in the session “Plant Molecular Pharming in Africa” will contribute to enabling low- and middle-income countries to develop their own sustainable and scalable manufacturing capacity for biopharmaceuticals based on innovating drug discovery, leading to lower dependency from global supply chains.
Contacts: Prof. Josef Glössl, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU), Austria
Email:
josef.gloessl@boku.ac.at; Mobile: +43 664 544 5282;
www.boku.ac.atMs Belinda Shaw, CEO and Founder of Cape Bio Pharms, Email:
belinda@capebiopharms.com;
Mobile +27 83 456 2760;
www.capebiopharms.comProf. Kurt Zatloukal, Medical University of Graz, Austria
Email:
kurt.zatloukal@medunigraz.at; Mobile +43 664 153 3264;
www.medunigraz.at
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