Online Reporter
Rumbidzayi Zinyuke, Harare Bureau
ZIMBABWE has intensified efforts to revive its pharmaceutical manufacturing industry, with Government exploring strategic partnerships within Africa as part of the National Pharmaceutical Strategy launched by President Mnangagwa last year.
The strategy is aimed at improving access to quality assured medicines, building local production capacity and reducing reliance on imports, which currently account for more than 80 percent of the country’s drug supply.
Once capable of producing up to 60 percent of Zimbabwe’s essential medicines, the pharmaceutical sector has, over the past two decades, suffered significant setbacks due to economic challenges, outdated equipment and limited access to capital. As a result, several firms scaled down operations or shut down completely, increasing reliance on imports from India, China and South Africa.
The National Pharmaceutical Strategy seeks to reverse this decline through technology transfer, regional partnerships, laboratory modernisation and strengthening the role of Natpharm in procurement and distribution. Central to this approach is harnessing the capacity of established African manufacturers to support Zimbabwe’s industrial recovery.
Health and Child Care Minister Dr Douglas Mombeshora said strategic partnerships are critical to restarting local pharmaceutical production and ensuring long term sustainability.
“We need these partnerships because we do not have our own formulas to begin with. Working with companies that already have capacity helps spread the risk while we rebuild,” he said.
Dr Mombeshora added that pharmaceutical manufacturing is not only an economic objective but also a national security priority, particularly in light of the global supply chain disruptions experienced during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Our aim is to strengthen both local and regional supply chains. If we can successfully attract this kind of investment, Zimbabwe will not only secure its own drug supply but also contribute to regional health security,” said Dr Mombeshora.
It is against this background that Government has been engaging African producers as part of efforts to boost domestic manufacturing capacity. Last year, Dr Mombeshora led a high level delegation to Ghana to assess potential collaboration with Atlantic Lifesciences Limited, a modern pharmaceutical manufacturer.
“Last year, my team and I toured a drug manufacturing company that is still relatively young but already producing a wide variety of molecules, mainly small injectables and light volume solutions such as normal saline. The equipment they are using is extremely modern. We inspected their purification systems because injectables require very sterile water. We also went through their storage facilities and the quality checks they conduct to ensure their products meet export standards,” he said.
The minister, who was accompanied by the Natpharm managing director, said the visit followed earlier engagements and confirmed that the company’s capacity would meet both Zimbabwe’s immediate and long term pharmaceutical needs.
He said the next step would be to involve the Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe (MCAZ) to assess the facility’s compliance with good manufacturing practices (GMP).
“We now think it is important for MCAZ to look at the good manufacturing practices there so that products coming from that plant can be registered in Zimbabwe. This supports our broader vision of expanding local production and ensuring that anything manufactured in Africa can contribute to the pooled procurement process we are establishing,” he said.
Natpharm has since received a catalogue of available formulations and is assessing which products are suitable for integration into Zimbabwe’s national supply chain.
“In the long term, we have begun discussions aimed at enticing the company to manufacture in Zimbabwe, particularly through a partnership with Natpharm. These are the developments we are pursuing to strengthen local production,” he said.
Government believes successful regional collaborations will be central to reducing dependence on imports, enhancing medicine security and laying the foundation for the re industrialisation of the pharmaceutical sector.
As Zimbabwe proceeds with the roll out of the National Pharmaceutical Strategy, detailed MCAZ assessments and follow up engagements with potential African partners are expected to begin soon, marking a significant step in rebuilding a resilient and sustainable pharmaceutical industry.
