According to the WHO, more than 500,000 people die annually in Africa from malaria, even after massive progress in managing the epidemic in the last two decades, many of them due to problems with medicine use.
The new partnership among Tobinco, Bliss, and mPedigree, is about to change the defects observed in the pharmaceuticals industry due to the sale of fake drugs. If this is done, many lives will be saved and a conservative estimate of lives to be improved annually is two million.
The trio recently announced a new partnership to support regional efforts to boost the quality of malaria medicines and patient education. The agreement comes in the wake of the PREVENT initiative in Ghana, which is an undertaking by the umbrella pharmaceutical association in the West African country to broaden access to new technologies that can suppress the spread of counterfeits and empower patients.
Tobinco is a major pharmaceutical conglomerate with activities spanning manufacturing, distribution and marketing across West Africa. It has built many household brands in several segments of the health market in multiple countries.
BLISS GVS Pharma is an India-based, WHO-cGMP certified company that has been manufacturing over 100 different pharmaceutical products for over 26 years, with products selling in over 50 countries. These products are available in various dosage forms, ranging from tablets to suppositories. Bliss is one of the fastest growing pharmaceutical companies in India, and has a strong presence in generics in multiple dosage forms.
mPedigree is the global leader in the use of web and mobile – based ERP and SCM technologies in preserving and raising product quality, protecting brand value and equity, and safeguarding lives from illicit trade, counterfeiting, and supply chain crimes and abuse.
PREVENT is an alliance of forces in the pharmaceutical professions and industries to improve health and well-being by advancing and promoting the use of proven, new, technologies to empower health consumers demand and receive medicines of the highest quality and integrity, whilst working with other stakeholders, especially governments to champion the universal healthcare agenda.
As part of the partnership, the pharma companies will link their pharmacovigilance activities to the independent PREVENT program, greatly improving transparency and accountability on product quality. They will also empower their patients to be able to validate the compliance of their products with world-class standards through scratch-offs on each pack, a unique ID for every dose, and a free text message to all major mobile networks in the region.
Household anti-malarial brands like Lonart shall benefit from this enhanced quality assurance.
Dennis Sena Awitty, Executive Secretary of the PREVENT initiative, described the development as a “resounding vindication of the PREVENT program as envisaged by the Pharmaceutical Society”.
Bernard Boateng, Regulatory Affairs Head at Tobinco described the pharma conglomerate’s commitment to quality as “complete and total, and the only sustainable competitive advantage we have in the market today.”
Gagan Harsh, General Manager of Bliss GVS, explained his company’s decision to support PREVENT and adopt Goldkeys as motivated by the “clear-eyed awareness by all parties that whilst technology is important, it is the shared values of the health community around the importance of providing affordable access to the best available treatments for the masses, that can truly make a difference, a vision that inspires Bliss’ every action and investment.”
Selorm Branttie, Strategy Director at mPedigree remarked: “mPedigree is proud that its Goldkeys technology has found strong legitimacy within the industry as the go-to platform when the imperative is to protect both lives and profits with zeal.”
KEMI AJUMOBI
