Issues Facing the Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Industry and the Recommended Solutions

The Africa pharmaceutical manufacturing industry is faced with various problems, including.

1. Lack of raw materials for manufacture of the commonly needed and used drugs. These active ingredients (raw material) are imported mainly from China, India or Malaysia since they are not available in the region. For a manufacturer to be able to perform at full potential of their capacity, they need to have a guaranteed demand for their drugs so that importing the raw materials can be beneficial due to economies of scale. There is need for local capacity of producing the required raw materials. African countries that have the potential to do this should produce them for the rest of the continent. For this demand to rise, there must be concerted efforts by the region to start manufacturing the drugs instead of continued importation from the above referenced sources. 
2. Too many middle men make the locally manufactured drugs very expensive by the time they reach the end use (patient). Once the regional industry is streamlined and orders come from within according to bilateral agreements, the prices will be reduced and healthcare will be more affordable for the citizenry boosting the continent towards attainment of UHC which is currently lagging behind. In a country like Kenya where KEMSA is mandated with purchase of the pharmaceutical products for use in government owned facilities, removal of the cartels will ensure competitive pricing as the products are distributed directly to the services providers.
3. Importation of generics that are already being manufactured locally gives the foreign companies an edge over the local firms especially if the suppliers are internationally recognised. Protocols should be in place so that importation of generic molecules that are locally manufactured be discouraged and only the branded ones are allowed so as to aid the growth locally.
4. As has been evidenced during the COVID-19 pandemic, the shortage of the raw materials can have large scale adverse effects. The reason for such shortage is partly due to the minimalistic orders made by the manufacturers who do not want to have dead stock as they do not have any guarantee of large-scale orders especially from the government and organisations that are providing healthcare support. To deter this the continent should come up with bilateral agreements of self-reliance for the pharmaceutical products.
5. There has been complaints that some imported and locally manufactured drugs are substandard with countries such as Nigerial, Ghana and Kenya banning some formularies to ensure safety of their citizens. With regional protocols in place the continent can ensure they are each other’s keepers and can police to ensure the continent does not become a dumping site for substandard pharmaceutical products.