The Need to Optimize Pharmaceutical Education and Training for a Changing Pharma World
- Professor Yahya Choonara - Chair and Head of the Department of Pharmacy and Pharmacology
Our local pharmaceutical industry has been gradually moving towards a world-class system. Many forward-thinking South African companies have made great strides in introducing newer production technologies which have added manufacturing capability and smart procurement initiatives. These have seen advancements in other critical aspects of drug product development, registration and regulation. Despite this, there is still a dire need to close the knowledge and skills gap to establish SA as a competitor to its international counterparts by industrializing its pharmaceutical sector and locally producing the majority of medicine it needs. This will in turn reduce dependence on medicine imports.
The country needs to take on a needs-based approach to training individuals for the local pharmaceutical industry with particular attention to the competencies needed to produce the desired pharmaceutical workforce of now and the future. Doing this is fundamentally important to reach the goal of growing a more robust pharmaceutical manufacturing sector to further drive economic growth and improvement the health care system.
In response to this need, Wits Pharmacy in partnership with Aspen Pharmacare has put together a unique series of postgraduate course offerings related to industrial pharmaceutics. It focuses on individuals who want to further their knowledge and skills in areas of advanced manufacturing, product quality control, the regulatory framework and quality management systems that are relevant to the pharmaceutical industry of today.
This initiative stems from deliberate and collaborative leadership between academia and industry to pioneer cross-border learning within the Southern African region and develop the human resources needed to service a more industrialised pharmaceutical sector.
A critical component of our country’s Universal Healthcare Coverage drive (in terms of medicines access) is for South Africa to produce high quality medicines locally with less reliance on product imports to meet our patient needs. These additional learning initiatives between Aspen Pharmacare and Wits Pharmacy highlights the need for a collaborative building of capacity in optimizing the skills needed for a thriving pharmaceutical quality system focused on drug product development. The knowledge and skills learnt by individuals on these new courses at Wits Pharmacy positively impacts them to lead a fulfilling career in the pharmaceutical industry.
With an increasing number of generic manufacturing companies setting up in South Africa, having a critical mass of individuals skilled in these areas in accordance to the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) guidelines is critical. As a country, we need to work diligently on closing key gaps in skills and to ensure that we reach global standards of pharmaceutical product development with increased manufacturing capacity.
The course also covers the importance of Technology Transfer, Scale-Up, Process Performance, Product Quality Monitoring Systems, Corrective Action/Preventive Action (CAPA) Systems, Change Management Systems and Management Review. As part of the initiative, these will create a unique learning opportunity for individuals to upskill product and process development for the pharmaceutical industry. The initiative also integrates the elements of commercial manufacturing in line with Quality-by-Design (QbD) principles.
The extraordinary challenges facing the world today, including shifts in job growth and challenges and opportunities, brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, warrants a disruptive re-imagining of how relevant pharmacy educational offerings can boost our economic growth. Learning initiatives such as these go a long way in producing the critical mass of individuals needed to realize a more industrialized and sustainable future-proof pharmaceutical manufacturing sector in the country.
For further information, please contact Professor Yahya Choonara - Chair and Head of the Department of Pharmacy and Pharmacology at Wits: yahya.choonara@wits.ac.za
FIGURE: Recent cohort of participants engaged in online learning on the advanced industrial pharmacy course initiative.