Two new antibiotics offer hope for people with gonorrhoea that is resistant to currently available drugs. Yet, it might be years before the people who need these medicines can get them. Catherine Tomlinson unpacks why these new antibiotics are important and what needs to happen before they can be used in South Africa.
The only shingles vaccine on the market in South Africa was discontinued last year. A newer and better vaccine is being used in some other countries, but has not yet been registered in South Africa, though it can be obtained by those with money who are willing to jump through some hoops. Catherine Tomlinson reports.
A Competition Commission probe recently resulted in a patent on an important tuberculosis medicine being dropped in South Africa. Twenty years ago, a similar Competition Commission case resulted in a settlement that helped drive down the prices of several antiretrovirals, thereby helping to set the stage for the country’s HIV treatment programme. Fatima Hassan and Leena Menghaney connect the dots between the two landmark cases and map out what has and has not changed over the last two decades.
Technical work on the discovery of new medicines is not commonly done in South Africa, or Africa, for that matter. One person who is at the forefront of changing this, is Kelly Chibale, a professor in organic chemistry and founder of the pioneering Holistic Drug Discovery and Development Centre – H3D – at the University of Cape Town. Biénne Huisman spoke to Chibale about his fascinating work and his journey from a village in Zambia, across the world, and back to Cape Town.
