Mail & Guardian reporter
Aids and tuberculosis (TB) are the two ugly sisters, together ravaging ever increasing numbers of South Africans. Although TB is curable if the drug-resistant form of the disease is not present the medication must be used timeously and correctly. One project at the Research Institute for Industrial Pharmacy (RIIP) at Potchefstroom University is working with industry partners to develop medicines for tuberculosis.
Although existing for more than three decades, Professor Theo Dekker, head of the RIIP, says the Technology and Human Resources for Industry Programme (Thrip) grants helped in developing the facilities of the institute, and hence further facilitating research and industry partnerships.
The institute develops and tests final-product medicines, that is the capsules or tablets, and the active ingredients within medicines. The principal focus of the Thrip grant is the development of a generic TB drug for use both at home and abroad. Generic drugs are almost always cheaper than the brand-name version, which can have a profound impact on national drug bills for treating illnesses.
Working with Rolab, part of the Novatis pharmaceutical group, the RIIP has been looking at the active ingredients used in the medication, as well as the chemical and physical implications for storage.
Many TB drugs are not very stable, which can add to the production costs in trying to manufacture the final capsules or tablets. The RIIP programme has been able to solve some of these inherent problems, and so make it easier to produce high-quality products at lower cost.
In order to be registered, a medicine must retain its efficacy and quality over at least two years. Using a series of climate rooms with differing humidities and temperatures, RIIP is close to finalising its chemical and physical tests on the drugs it has been developing. The institute expects to pass international criteria with flying colours.
The Thrip TB project started in 1999 and is almost completed. However, Dekker says cooperation on generic research development is expected to continue growing, since their industry partner is approaching this market aggressively. All the drugs on the South African government’s essential drugs list are generics, and Dekker says his institute is proud to have been involved in the development of hundreds of medicines currently being sold in pharmacies.
The RIIP demonstrates that Thrip partnerships can have benefits outside the immediately funded research. On its academic side, the institute has been able to find a new application of an existing drug for malaria. Although Dekker emphasises this is still “in its very early stages”, he says the development is exciting, especially given the growing resistance of malaria to existing forms of medication.