Dr. Yaw Gyamfi, Chief Executive Officer of Danadams, has hinted that the only way to solve the consistent shortage of drugs for high-risked patients such as people living with HIV would be to resource local drug manufacturers.
Danadams is the only manufacturer of antiretroviral drugs and other essential medicines in Ghana, yet the company is confronted with high production cost caused by frequent power outages and water shortage while lack of commitment from government in promoting local content as well as stiff competition from imported drugs pose serious challenges.
Dr. Gyamfi was speaking at a brief ceremony to welcome Dr. Placido Cardoso, Director General of West Africa Health Organization (WAHO), when he visited Danadams Pharmaceuticals recently.
Dr. Cardoso visited the local pharmaceutical company to discuss the role of the local pharmaceutical manufacturing companies in addressing the issue of drug shortage in the African region.
He noted that there had been little commitment on the side of government to invest in the local drug firms, although support to local manufacturers would boost their capacity to position themselves to produce and supply world class quality medicines which could compete with international brands.
“It is important to wean ourselves from imported drug; we are not only competing with imported drugs from the West but from Indian and China as well,” Dr. Gyamfi said.
The CEO of Danadams revealed that the local drug manufacturing industry was under threat from big Western based pharmaceutical companies who were poised for benefiting from African’s multi-billion dollar market for medicines.
He explained that the international companies strategically donated the drugs or supplied at a very low price in their bid to find new market for the products “and when the people get used to it that is where they get us in their nets”.
Such development, Dr. Gyamfi noted, limited local manufacturers, adding, “We must be careful of the strategies of the big companies, it is time Africans started finding solutions to African problems.”
This notwithstanding, he pointed out that global aid to Africa was currently dwindling “while inefficiencies in drug procurement are increasing”.
Dr. Gyamfi mentioned that no local drug company in West Africa had the required World Health Organization (WHO) certification that would allow them to participate alongside the big pharmaceutical companies who alone could tender for global aid contracts.
To attain a WHO certification which would enable the company to access the global fund, “Danadams pharmaceuticals is leading the way in attaining WHO certification by erecting a new state-of-the-art facility in Ghana which will continue to focus on essential drugs such as antiretroviral for people living with HIV”, he stated.
