• The African Union Assembly adopted a treaty to establish the AMA to enhance regulatory oversight across the continent
• The aim was to meet the challenges of access to quality, safe, and efficacious medicines in the continent.
Image: PSCU
Players in the medical sector have called on the government to ratify a continental treaty to enable safe local production of vaccines and medicines.
The calls come as Kenya prepares to set up a Moderna manufacturing plant in the country; the first in Africa.
The facility will produce messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines, including Covid-19 shots.
However, the Kenya Healthcare Federation on Wednesday raised concern that Kenya is among the countries that have neither signed nor ratified the African Medicines Agency treaty (AMA) which came into effect on November 5, 2021.
The African Union Assembly adopted the treaty to enhance regulatory oversight and meet the challenges of access to quality, safe and efficacious medicines across the continent.
Failure by Kenya to ratify the treaty casts doubts in her commitment to improve regulation of medicines, medical products and technologies and to advance the implementation of the Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Plan of Africa.
The federation has, however, welcomed the plan to set up the plant in Kenya.
It noted that the establishment of the Kenya Biovax Ltd and the formation of a National Multi-Agency Committee of Human Vaccine Production by the government was one of the first steps towards realizing human vaccine manufacturing in Kenya.
“The Kenya healthcare system with its large and well-trained and skilled workforce including specialists in state-of-the-art medical facilities spread across the public and private sector makes Kenya ideal for the Moderna vaccine manufacture,” the KHF chair Kanyenje Gakombe said.
He noted that a local manufacturing plant for the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine would ramp up Kenya's human vaccine resources and contribute to the achievement of Universal Health Coverage.
Once completed, the manufacturing facility in Kenya will be the first in Africa to produce messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines.
It has a production target of 500 million doses of vaccines each year.
KHF CEO Anastasia Nyalita noted whilst the Moderna vaccine manufacturing plant will be the first of its kind in Kenya, it's noteworthy that Kenya has been manufacturing animal vaccines through the Kenya Veterinary Vaccines Production Institute.
“This experience can be leveraged in setting up and running the proposed COVID19 manufacturing plant,” Nyalita said.
The Kenya Biovax Ltd anticipates to invest up to Sh60 billion shillings in the new facility which could expanded to include fill/finish and packaging capabilities at the site.
Moderna is also working on plans to allow it to fill doses of its Covid-19 vaccine in Africa as early as 2023, subject to demand.
Late last month, a team from the firm was in the country and begun exploring potential sites in the city and its environs.