Mauritius was pleased to play host to Mr Martin Seychell, Deputy Director-General, Directorate-General for International Partnerships (INTPA) at the European Commission, who shared his insights at a press briefing organised by the EU Delegation to Mauritius in Port Louis on 19 October 2023. He visited the country only for a few days to attend the ‘National Strategy for the Development of a Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Sector’ that was held on 20 October 2023 by the Mauritius Institute of Biotechnology.
To provide context, this event was held further to the feasibility study on the biopharma sector in Mauritius that was carried out with EU support (as part of its Africa RISE initiative) and handed over to the Government of Mauritius last year. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Mauritian government expressed its plan to boost the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry to make it an economic pillar of the country. This initiative marks the start of a partnership for the export promotion of priority pharmaceutical products and services, both locally and globally, while creating highly paid jobs for skilled Mauritian professionals.
At the press briefing, Mr Martin Seychell noted that health has always been an area where the EC has done a lot of work with partner countries around the world. “During the pandemic, a number of health issues were observed, and specifically, an unequal distribution of manufacturing capacity around the world, particularly in Africa (and Latin America to a certain extent) that seemed dependent on the rest of the world for practically everything. Africa imports 99% of the vaccines it needs and 92% of the medicines it needs. This spells extreme dependence for the continent, and also means that Africa has to make do with products and technologies developed for North America, Europe or Asia, that may or may not meet its needs. These technologies may also not be easy or cost effective for Africa to apply,” he soberingly remarked. “This is also a problem for Europe, as our management of the pandemic is greatly complicated by the knowledge that our partners around the world were unable to cope with their own needs. Strategic autonomy is key. It doesn’t mean that everyone produces everything for their own needs, but issues of extreme dependence like the one mentioned are obviated. The European Union has put in place a programme under the Global Gateway which is our overarching strategy on major planetary transformations – the green, digital and health transformation – we have put in place an initiative called MAV+ (Medical and Health Technologies in Africa) where we have invested a billion euros to help Africa produce 60% of its vaccines by 2040 from 1% just now.”
“We see the important role that Africa CDC has been playing. There is the new African Medicines Agency, where Mauritius has been one of the first to ratify and has been a founding member, and many other initiatives around joint procurement. So Africa is taking bold political decisions to deal with this issue, but partner countries such as Europe must also support, and this is where our initiative comes in,” he underlined.
He noted that the EU helps create the most favourable environment possible for the private sector to produce the medicines needed and to build the pharmaceutical market of tomorrow. Africa is the only continent with demographic expansion so the pharma market of tomorrow will definitely be in Africa. This investment means a win-win situation where African consumers can see the realisation of their partially or fully unmet needs, and is certainly a win for the companies concerned because it is a growing market, and for the EU as well because it is working with these countries and strengthening relationships with them in a concrete manner.
“One of the main reasons I am here is because Mauritius is an interesting country and has several characteristics which make it attractive for investment particularly in this innovative sector of biopharmaceuticals,” he mentioned. Mauritius is a stable jurisdiction, and it has lots of trade deals with other parts of the world which is important as manufacturing of medicines being a complex business with lots of inputs and outputs, he explained. There is also the possibility to leverage its role in setting up the African institutions and also benefit from its strong relationships with countries like India, South Africa and those in Europe that are major players in the pharma field, he stressed.
The conference on Friday was centered on the report, which showed clearly that there is great potential and outlined recommendations for this potential to be realised. “The area of biotech is extremely interesting because it is the most cutting-edge of all medical technology where there is great scientific progress as we see in recent examples such as the m-RNA vaccines, monoclonal antibodies and immunotherapy. It is also an industry which does not require enormous volumes of production (setting up enormous factories with thousands of workers) but is a very specialised high-tech sector with strong linkages with research and academia, and scope for innovation as many of the academics became entrepreneurs themselves, and by extension, for entrepreneurship. There is not just scope for foreign investors but local entrepreneurs who know the needs of the local market better than anyone coming from outside,” he averred.
Ultimately, it is about attracting foreign investment where the European Commission aims particularly to address that segment of biotech which is particularly innovative and is looking specifically at unmet or partially met needs being targeted by these exciting, emerging technologies, he unfolded.
Role of INTPA in EU-Africa RISE and other international partnerships
Setting out the wider picture in an exclusive discussion with Platform Africa, Mr Seychell explained that: “The Directorate General for International Partnerships is part of the EC and we are working with countries around the world. There is also the DG NEAR for neighbouring countries. We have a financial programme, and we use that to work with partner countries around the world to advance priorities that we have agreed upon jointly on major planetary transformations that need to happen. We have a process whereby we agree upon priorities with each country. Here, health is one of the key sectors that has been identified. It is clear that the world needs a major transformation in how health is handled, there are major problems that the pandemic has exposed, and there are key differences in health outcomes as well as in progress towards SDGs related to health, so we need to shift gears. One of the things we need to look at is how we can specifically increase the support for Africa. This is where we come in. Clearly, there is a substantial budget we use in these programmes that we develop with our partners around the world. When it comes to the production of goods and services, it is a private sector led activity so the private sector will finance it. But our job is to help the private sector by creating a conducive environment and that sometimes requires lots of steps to be taken before production can happen. We see concrete investments already happening in African countries. The industry is clearly taking greater and greater interest in Africa as it advances economically and prices start improving.”
He added that it was not just about identifying unmet needs and meeting them, but also ensuring that prices are correctly pegged. It was also about more African researchers being involved and driving the research, as Africa best knows what its people need. He noted that their approach is to empower Africa with strategic understanding, while INTPA manages the process by accompanying the investment with expertise. “Our experience with the European Medicines Agency has been great and even our smallest member states have the same experience as the larger member states. We believe that the African Medicines Agency can have the same transformative experience,” he explained.
He noted that the experience with joint procurement in Europe has been positive too, with smaller member states getting access to the same products as larger states, and at the same time. Countries in Africa too must pool their innovation and expertise, making it a big game changer compared to the current situation where each country is trying to find a solution for itself, he remarked. Creating links with the private sector on both sides with matchmaking events is also a key exercise undertaken by INTPA, he explained, concluding that identifying the needs of partner countries and pairing them with the right investment was key.
Key outcomes from the report
In terms of the background, EU Africa RISE has conducted an in-depth and comprehensive feasibility study for the establishment and focused strategic positioning of Mauritius as a regional pharmaceutical and biotechnology hub. The EU Report on Biopharma Industry Development in Mauritius was prepared in response to a request from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development and the Mauritius Institute of Biotechnology with the support of the EU Delegation of Mauritius. The ambition is to make this sector a key pillar of the economy and there are enormous benefits to exploiting the potential of Mauritius in this arena.
Since then, the Mauritius Institute of Biotechnology Ltd has launched the report at a ceremony presided over by His Excellency Mr Oskar Benedikt, Ambassador of the European Union to the Republic of Mauritius; Mr. Martin Seychell, Deputy Director-General, DG INTPA, European Commission; and His Excellency, Mr Prithvirajsing Roopun, G.C.S.K, President of the Republic of Mauritius; on the morning of Friday, 20 October 2023.
During the event to welcome the Director-General, he mentioned that the report identifies a number of specific sectors that would fit well into the reality of Mauritius, given technology levels and the size of the island economy. “Also, as a gateway, Mauritius plays a very powerful role. A lot of technologies are finding it difficult to enter Africa, so we need gateways to help shape, modify and channel those technologies to make them suitable to the environment so they can play a role in the continent. That is a very powerful role to play and that is why we believe Mauritius has great potential. That is why we are interested as the EU to continue and intensify this dialogue and help the authorities here implement that vision. The continent does need a good gateway and a research angle, and this comes in very strongly in this report. This is the heart of the gateway – to ensure that technologies that are being developed should be suitable to be deployed and can be quickly utilised for the benefit of the population because they are designed the right way. The linkages with other countries are also important. The EU stands ready to work with like-minded countries around the world on the global issues that global health is an integral part of. The report also recommends key action plans around the regulatory frameworks that Mauritius wishes to operationalise from the report.”
Adopting a multi-faceted approach, the report highlights key forecasts and observations for the short and long term horizon, across six priority areas. These are:
- Skills and capacity development;
- Updating legal, regulatory and compliance frameworks to adhere with international standards;
- Conducting animal research;
- Underscoring the importance of clinical research;
- Optimisation of manufacturing processes; and
- Attracting the right investments to develop this crucial sector.
Looking back, the Mauritian Government announced the creation of the Mauritius Institute of Biotechnology Ltd in the 2021-2022 Budget for the implementation of a vaccine against COVID-19 for the local market and for the production of pharmaceutical products. The MIBL is managed by a board of directors and four subcommittees which assist it in its decision-making – a technical and scientific committee, a human resources committee, an investment committee, and an audit committee. In addition, five steering committees have been established recently to provide guidance, advice and recommendations on issues related to green biotechnology pertaining to agriculture; blue biotechnology targeting the marine sector; red biotechnology for medicine and healthcare; white biotechnology for the industrial sector; and grey biotechnology for the environment.
