Towards continuous flow manufacturing of active pharmaceutical ingredients in Africa: a perspective

Africa has a double burden of communicable and non-communicable diseases, accounting for 26% of the global disease burden. Pharmaceutical medicines are critical components in treating these diseases; however, only 3% of global drug production is carried out in Africa, which results in limited access to medicines. The local active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) manufacturing industry is not well established. Africa hugely depends on imports. Thus, the need to establish local API manufacturing capability is obvious. In this review, we highlight the efforts and hurdles in the local manufacturing of APIs and recommend sustainable ways to establish local continuous flow API manufacturing capability. Continuous flow manufacturing is an innovative and enabling technology platform that is increasingly impacting the pharmaceutical industry. Africa can leverage continuous flow technology to establish a state-of-the-art, sustainable, competitive local API manufacturing industry. Although this approach is noble, it is not without its challenges. Some of the current challenges for the full-scale implementation of continuous flow manufacturing in Africa include the lack of pilot scale or demonstration facilities to bridge the chasm between research and commercialization, inadequate funding, prohibitive infrastructure costs and scarcity of skilled local talents with knowledge and expertise in modern manufacturing techniques. This review also showcases all examples in which continuous flow technology has been successfully applied exclusively in API syntheses within the African continent. The grand vision is to contribute towards the transformation of Africa into an innovation-led, technology-based and knowledge-based continent through the adoption of cutting edge innovative and enabling technologies. This can transform the local pharmaceutical industry into a responsive industry that meets continental health security, social, economic and political needs according to the African Union's Agenda 2063, Sustainable Development Goal 3 (SDG3) and Universal Health Coverage (UHC) goals.