Professor Kelly Chibale, SARChi Chair in Drug Discovery, Department of Chemistry at UCT, has made significant contributions to the research capacity and skills development in key areas critical to the discovery of modern pharmaceutical medicines.
Chibale established Africa’s first integrated modern drug discovery centre at UCT, known by the acronym H3-D, and has set up various modern technology platforms for the discovery of potential medicines. Platforms are necessary for drugs to move from one step to the next, from discovery to development and to testing.
Chibale says that there is a gap between basic science (research) and clinical studies (drug trials) and this is where South Africa needs to grow further. According to the chemistry professor, South Africa is a long way behind Europe and the United States.
“If we compare ourselves to the BRIC countries — Brazil, Russia, India and China — we are also not at the same level. However, South Africa is not too far behind,” says Chibale. “This country needs a critical mass of pharmaceutical industry skills and this includes entrepreneurship.”
Chibale says that it is essential to develop the skills needed because drug discovery is underpinned by various disciplines. The following disciplines are all critical to the discovery of medicines and include: synthetic and computational chemistry; metabolism; pharmacokinetics (what the body does to drugs); the physical, chemical and biological properties of the molecule; safety and toxicity; patents, and publications.
The multi-disciplinary approach aids in attracting students and Chibale has a very large doctoral and masters research group, according to international standards. His current research looks at finding potential medicines that fight malaria, TB and cardiovascular disease, following his principle that research needs to have direct economical or social benefits.
Professor Chibale’s life ambition is to discover medicines that save lives and, through the process, create employment by creating companies. Chibale also believes in attracting young people to chemistry, training the next generation of scientists to ensure that the necessary skills are available to Africa: “It’s important to show the opportunities that are available and that the discipline is both financially and mentally rewarding.”
Another area of importance is raising the awareness of the public, industry and government. According to Chibale, there has been a lack of entrepreneurial culture and researchers sometimes blame the powers-that-be for not having the funds to do research. “However,” he says, “Researchers must improve on communicating the socio-economic value in what they do.”
This article originally appeared in the Mail & Guardian newspaper as an advertorial supplement