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Interesting article about african medical science:

Strengthen scientific ties with Africa — researchers

Researchers are urging the South African government to strengthen scientific ties with other African countries to combat diseases.

TAMAR KAHN
2010/12/14

CAPE TOWN — SA could benefit from strengthening its scientific links with other African countries, where many good ideas for tackling diseases languish in the laboratory due to lack of support for commercialisation, say researchers from Canada’s McLaughlin-Rotman Centre for Global Health.

SA has had relative success in turning local discoveries into tools for diagnosing and treating disease when compared with other African countries.

"It could be a strategic play, as it could foster ideas which would solve common problems," said the centre’s director, Prof Peter Singer. "Those ideas will ultimately yield commercial value too.

"SA distributes lots of finished products, such as generic drugs, to other African countries, but on the research and development side there are few big links."

Prof Singer and his colleague, Ken Simiyu, this week published a review in UK-based BioMed Central, along with a paper in Science, describing what helps and hinders African countries’ efforts to turn ideas for tackling health problems into commercial reality.

They identified dozens of innovations, including a cheap portable medical waste incinerator developed at Uganda’s Makerere University. It uses the waste as its only fuel and could be used in rural areas where there are no safe waste disposal sites.

Researchers at Kenya’s International Centre for Insect Physiology and Ecology have patented human odours that repel mosquitoes; scientists from Ghana’s Centre for Scientific Research into Plant Medicines are developing an anti-malaria medicine from a local plant; and Nigeria’s National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development has identified a plant-based drug for sickle-cell anaemia. But all are faced with barriers to commercialisation.

The biggest problem facing African countries is that while there is money for basic research, there is no funding to take the work further, according to the researchers. "One of our most shocking findings is that there is barely a cent for venture capital in Africa (for life sciences research and development) except in SA," Prof Singer said.

SA stands out among other African countries because it has the only life sciences venture capital fund on the continent, Bioventures. The fund is modest by global standards, a mere 12m, and is fully invested. It has supported eight firms since 2002 .

Dr Carl Montague , the Technology Innovation Agency’s GM for health, said SA had such limited funds available it was unlikely to invest directly in products being developed in other countries. " First we need to develop the mechanisms for getting products from the bench to market, and then we can think about assisting the rest of the continent.

"To get a drug to market is hugely expensive — the average cost is 800m — and we don’t have those funds. We need to partner with other organisations."

Prof Singer said investors had to be prepared to fund ventures long term, as commercialising biotechnology innovations could take decades. "There is a real opportunity for ‘patent capital’ to help the development of these technologies," he said, " a long- term market opportunity".

http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/Content.aspx?id=129391