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| October 2007 |
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HIV drugs: local could be lekkerChristina Scott
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David Walwyn |
South African biotechnology entrepreneurs predict that their companies could
turn a profit one day by offering locally-made antiretroviral drugs.
Grant Napier from Elevation Biotech in Parktown and David Walwyn of Arvir in
Modderfontein both spoke at the Bio2Biz conference in Cape Town in September.
At present, every active ingredient in antiretroviral drugs has to be imported,
Dr Walwyn told Bio2Biz delegates. ''Producing our own antiretroviral drugs is a
strategic imperative for this country. It would provide job creation and help
foreign exchange,'' he said. ‘’In addition, Arvir is seeking more
cost-effective ways of producing existing antiretrovirals.’’
The company, based at the government's eGoli BIO business incubator, is
investigating three plant extracts. Walwyn says the plant infusions have shown
''significant anti-HIV activity'' in stringent laboratory studies at the Council
for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in Pretoria.
Elevation Biotech, meanwhile, is at the very beginning of a dozen nerve-wracking
years of testing and re-testing before a reliable drug is created.
The start-up company is exploring the use of fragments of protein to create the
latest FDA-approved type of antiretroviral drug. Called HIV entry inhibitors,
these pills reduce the virus's ability to tunnel deep into our cells.
''South Africa has less than 1% of the world's population but 13% of the global
burden of HIV infections,'' noted Grant Napier. ''With the national rollout of
antiretroviral drugs, we are sitting with a market which may be big enough to
justify drug development for the domestic market alone.''
One controversial suggestion is that local researchers with promising new drug combinations might only need approval from South Africa's Medicines Control Council, not the USA's Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This might be economically viable, given the vast domestic demand for antiretrovirals. And it would significantly reduce the cost and time it takes to test new drugs, which have to survive a battery of laboratory, animal and human tests before being sold.
But Napier is dubious. ‘’We wouldn’t want to rush a drug to market and compromise a patient’s safety,’’ he says.
The fact that South African companies could make a profit simply in the domestic market is a sign of how widespread the HIV epidemic is in South Africa.
But until sexually active South Africans go for HIV tests on a regular basis (like every year on their birthday), it may be that many HIV positive people will sicken and die without knowing that their CD 4 immune cell count has dropped to such low levels that they urgently need to use antiretroviral pills.
More information:
Remember that if you have any questions about HIV/AIDS and you are in South
Africa, please phone the AIDS Helpline on 0800 012 322 or go to their website at
www.aidshelpline.org.za/vct.htm
A list of public health centres across South Africa currently offering antiretroviral drugs, from Auckland Park to Zwide, is on http://www.jcsmf.org.za/node/21 or can be accessed from the Treatment Action Campaign's website on http://www.tac.org.za/
* LifeLab is a taxpayer-funded innovation support centre which co-owns Arvir. It's based in Cato Manor in Durban and is online at www.lifelab.co.za/
* eGoli BIO nurtures fledgling South African biotechnology companies, courtesy of state funds, at the Pinelands Office Park in Ardeer Road in Modderfontein, Gauteng. http://www.egolibio.co.za/ . Mbuya Biotech, Africa Harvest, i-Slices, Oxyrane, GradChem Solutions and Waterlife are some of the biotechnology-based businesses which have ''graduated'' from eGoli BIO's business ''cręche.''
* Elevation Biotech, a Johannesburg-based business partnership with the University of the Witwatersrand, the National Health Laboratory Service, the Department of Science and Technology and LifeLab, is online at www.elevationbiotech.com
The annual Bio2Biz conference is online at www.bio2biz.org
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