ACRO aims to slash drug research costs in half.

Local clinical trials locally will allow cheaper access to findings, says public-private partnership

Durban - The newly formed African Clinical Research Organisation (ACRO) hoped to cut the cost of clinical research in South Africa by up to 50 percent, managing director Mary-Ann Richardson said yesterday However, medicine costs are not expected to decline due to cheaper research, even though drug manufacturers and researchers are likely to pay less for access to study findings.

Established this month, ACRO is a partnership between the government and the private sector. Its mandate is to make clinical research affordable to local firms, academic institutions and non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

Llfelab, a biotechnology unit of the department of science and technology, represents the government, while Batswadi Pharmaceuticals represents the private sector.

Current high costs mean most drugs used locally are developed overseas. The minimum cost of researching and manufacturing a new drug is $897 million (R6.5 billion), according to a 2003 Tufts study.

Richardson said it took between eight and 10 years to bring a new drug to market.

The cost depends on the complexity of the drug, she said. Multinationals are usually the ones that do the research, and the development of the drug is done offshore. If the research is done locally, the rates would be very low. Government entities, academic institutions and NGOs would be charged less than private companies for research.

Generally, conducting clinical trials in South Africa is 30 percent cheaper than the rest of the world. ACRO will make it 20 percent cheaper than the USA rate, which means customers will be charged between 30 percent and 50 percent less. Lifelab has so far invested R10 million in ACRO. Chief executive Blessed Okole said Lifelab would pull out of the venture after five years and the shares would be sold to a black empowerment company. Christopher Whitfield, the chief executive of Batswadi, said: There are a number of local companies that have exciting products that are sitting on the shelves because there are no resources. We want to commercialise these products and increase African access. Local drug manufacturers such as Aspen, Enaleni and Adcock Ingram usually subcontract clinical research work.

ACRO has one project in the pipeline: a $1 million vaccine trial that will begin next year.

Okole said ACRO would focus for now on research into infectious diseases that were prevalent in Africa, such as HIV/Aids, tuberculosis (TB), malaria and cholera. This company will take care of African problems better than the big companies, because decisions will be made here and not overseas. Not enough research was done on infectious diseases, Okole said, because they are not regarded as high-class diseases like diabetes, obesity and hypertension. Infectious diseases are our problems in Africa and we must find solutions for them. There are not enough drugs aimed at curing these diseases.

The only reason HI V/Aids is receiving attention is because a lot of donors are supporting it, said Okole.

According to the Medical Research Council, at least 5.4 million people are living with HIV in the country.

Malaria kills more than I million people a year, 90 percent in Africa. The World Health Organisation last year rated South Africa fifth out of 22 high-burdened TB countries.

Source: BUSINESS REPORT (National) 30 Aug 2007 Page 7