In May 2025, MPP signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Vizuri Health Dynamics Foundation, an African non-profit dedicated to catalysing investments and driving health market efficiencies to strengthen local pharmaceutical production. The partnership focuses on objectives relating to better understanding the landscape, supporting licensing and technology transfer and building local/regional manufacturing capacity, and promoting uptake of quality-assured, locally produced medicines in Africa. MPP and Vizuri aim to accelerate equitable access to essential health technologies across Africa. MPP news recently met with Vizuri’s Chair Dr. Mariatou Tala Jallow and Council Member Ann-Marie Hosang-Archer  to discuss the approach to their ambitious project.

 MPP

Could you explain what Vizuri’s goals are?

Vizuri
Only 5 per cent of pharmaceutical products used in Africa are made in Africa. Overall, our objective is to have a strong pharmaceutical industry in Africa in which African manufacturers contribute much more than the current 5 per cent.

We had been attending international conferences about African manufacturers, with very few of the manufacturers on the stage. We therefore partnered with the Federation of African Manufacturers Associations (FAPMA) to  bring manufacturers together  and provide a platform for them to fully engage on the topics critical to the continent.  The African Medicines Manufacturing Trade Exhibition and Conference (AMMTEC 2024), which is the only event organised for and by African Manufacturers had its inaugural conference in October 2024 in Tanzania. It was  really successful and brought together over 200 delegates from international pharma, global health organisations and implementing partners, financiers and investors. It included 30 delegates from African manufacturers.

We apply our network, experience and expertise to support all interested stakeholders, and work with them to accelerate African healthcare commodities’ manufacturing in a more coordinated and coherent way.

MPP

Do stakeholders largely support this goal?

Vizuri

Some people have suggested that African manufacturers should take over the whole market share in Africa. But that is not realistic. Our objective is to shift the needle so that current manufacturers can have a bigger market share within the continent, because you cannot talk about a resilient and sustainable pharmaceutical industry if their market share is so minimal.

MPP

Could you explain why the African pharmaceutical industry is currently not as thriving as it might be?

Vizuri

We have identified what we call six market failures that need to be addressed.

  1. The ‘missing essential medicines’: Governments are procuring and inviting tenders for products on their essential medicines list, but they are not receiving any responses from manufacturers in their countries or regionally. The downward pricing pressure from governments and payers  reduces the business sustainability for international or even local manufacturers to supply essential medicines. . Manufacturers are not incentivised to register products in neighbouring countries to supply needed essential medicines, due to high costs and low returns.
  2. Domestic focus among existing manufacturers: Several manufacturers on the continent focus on only their own country. Others focus on a specific sector in their country, perhaps the private or public sectors. They don’t sell across borders because it’s a significant hurdle to overcome. We want to help them become more regional because you cannot make everything everywhere. The ability to sell across multiple markets expands opportunities for manufacturers and makes them more attractive to potential investors.
  3. Inaccessible innovative medicines: There are innovative or more complex medicines that have not been launched or are not readily available throughout Africa. Licensing opportunities provided through MPP, gives African manufacturers the opportunity to produce newer products and improve access to African patients. For instance, we don’t have a manufacturer on the continent for all insulin analogues or some of the newer monoclonal antibodies and immunological agents. Improving manufacturers’ capability for in-licensing opportunities will bring more innovative products to African patients.
  4. Barriers to donor and government procurements: Due to regulatory or procurement requirements, we need to focus on what donors and governments require to enable procurement of pharmaceutical products from manufacturers. To be a supplier to some of these organisations is a significant step for African manufacturers as it will support their efforts to scale up and obtain the  necessary funding and investments to meet these scaled demands.
  5. API manufacturing: We want Africa to be a contributor and a significant player in the API space to diversify the sourcing of APIs and contribute to a self-reliant and sustainable manufacturing industry.
  6. Fragmented private sector purchasing: With the faith-based organisations and the private sector, an excellent high volume opportunity exists. We will convene private sector buying groups and ask them to commit to a proportion of purchase over a set period, directly from local manufacturers – this will create an investor friendly commitment.

MPP  

How does Vizuri respond to these six areas of market failure?

Vizuri

Vizuri will address the market failures using four levers of change: aggregation of offtake commitments, supply and inputs; licensing that results in tech transfers, contract manufacturing and second brand options; financing planning and sourcing support; and regulatory and quality standards support.

We saw three manufacturers sitting together during the  AMMTEC in Tanzania, all purchasing the identical product from the same manufacturer – but at three completely different prices – so aggregated buying is a potential solution.

We will activate a combination of our six practice areas to apply our expertise to the market failures in support of a competitive and sustainable industry.The first one is production. We have over 25 years of pharmaceutical manufacturing experience with multinational and global manufacturers producing different medicines.Next, the Health Economics and Market Dynamics team look at what’s happening in the market and which models on pricing and access the manufacturers should be developing.

Demand generation includes demand creation activities that aim to educate and create awareness about a product, brand or disease and demand fulfilment that ensures that the product is available and accessible. Our Supply Chain team will ensure optimisation of product flow from manufacturers to patients.The Clinical Innovation and Quality Service Delivery personnel will with the relevant policymakers in the ministries of health or professional bodies assess the benefit of that product in the treatment guidelines.

Last but not least, is our Innovative Finance team that offer expertise in capital raising and management.

The main challenge is how governments can translate their political commitments to support  manufacturers. For us, the biggest challenge is getting governments’ words translated into political commitment and demand.

Through a market intelligence database we  have the data and information to assess and support manufacturers and stakeholders in their decision-making.  We can make recommendations to manufacturers, and our assessment is not just about what to produce or how to manufacture, but also about how to manage financials. We support our manufacturers in building their business cases.

Developmental and other funding agencies must look at how they redesign and prioritise their funding options for an up-and-coming African pharmaceutical market. I believe  MPP’s analysis that the African context is different to India’s is significant, and others need to do the same, especially funders and policy makers. The model needs to be designed to reflect the conditions.

We will support regional manufacturers, but need significant movement in that direction. Some products will be produced to meet national, regional and continental needs, which policymakers need to recognise. We need to enable imports and perhaps reduce duties, for example, in some of the inputs required for manufacturing.

MPP

What will you gain from your partnership with MPP?

Our partnership with MPP is important because we want opportunities for new products, second brands, contract manufacturing, technical assistance, and regulatory support.

We will also advocate for MPP. Manufacturers need to understand what MPP stands for and what they can gain working with MPP: we want MPP to be successful so that trust can be built with manufacturers as  licensing partners. We can also support the work on demand generation to facilitate new product or technology introduction and adoption in countries.