The Chief Executive of the National Vaccine Institute (NVI) Dr Sodzi Sodzi-Tettey has declared that Ghana’s pharmaceutical industry has entered its “golden era,” as the government launched a new policy framework on Wednesday, October 28, 2026.

The new policy is aimed at transforming the country into a continental hub for medicine and vaccine manufacturing.

Speaking at the launch of the Ghana Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Policy (GPMP) at the Ghana EXIM Bank premises, Dr Sodzi-Tettey said the policy would answer the critical questions that have long stalled financing for local manufacturers. He signalled that Ghana’s decade-long ambition to lead Africa in pharmaceutical production is now backed by action, not just words.

“We are witnessing the golden era of the pharmaceutical industry in Ghana,” Sodzi-Tettey told an audience that included the Minister of Trade, Agribusiness and Industry, Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare, and the Minister of Health, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh. “In a few years to come, this will be self-evident.”

A Policy That Answers the $100M Question

Sodzi-Tettey said the GPMP directly addresses the financing challenges facing the sector. He noted that the NVI is tasked with mobilising resources for two private manufacturers and partners, Atlantic Lifesciences and DEK Vaccines Ltd, which need no less than $100 million to build and equip their plants.

“When we approach Development Finance Institutions, a few questions are thrown back at us: How supportive is government of these initiatives? Will your government buy the vaccines and the medicines you are planning to manufacture? Does your government have any policy on local manufacturing?” he said. “I can confidently respond and say… Ghana has a Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Policy which articulates in clear concrete terms the support that government is providing for the sector.”

The policy includes provisions on local production of essential raw materials, promotion of pharmaceutical research and development, contract manufacturing, skills development, industry-specific tax exemptions, investment financing, market expansion, and vaccine manufacturing.

Milestones Stack Up

The NVI boss laid out a series of concrete achievements to support his conviction that the pharma industry in Ghana has entered a “golden era”:

– May 2025: In collaboration with Atlantic Lifesciences, the NVI manufactured Snake Venom Anti-Serum, Ghana’s first biological product, a milestone for the estimated 10,000 snakebite victims in rural areas each year.

– August 2025: President John Dramani Mahama allocated $50 million to the NVI to support vaccine manufacturing.

– This year: The NVI established a state-of-the-art mRNA laboratory at the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, making Ghana one of only five African countries with the technology. The lab is set to be launched by the President this year.

– 2027 target: Ghana is on track to manufacture two additional products: Anti-Tetanus Serum and its first vaccine, the Tetanus Diphtheria vaccine.

“Not only are we producing. We are also buying what we produce,” Sodzi-Tettey said, noting that procurement processes for the Ghana-made Snake Venom Anti-Serum are well underway under the President and Health Minister.

Continental Market Access

At the event that attracted industry players and Ghana’s bilateral partners, Dr Sodzi-Tettey also highlighted Ghana’s expanding reach beyond its borders. In August, the Health Minister, Kwabina Mintah Akandoh, signed a memorandum of understanding connecting Ghana to the African market under the Africa CDC’s Pooled Procurement Mechanism (APPM).

Atlantic Lifesciences has since been prequalified under the APPM, onboarded as a registered manufacturer for five years, and awarded a contract to supply oxytocin to Africa under the RMNH essential medicines framework.

“Today, Atlantic Lifesciences, a Ghanaian company, has been prequalified under the APPM. This means it fully meets all standards to supply medicines on the continent,” Sodzi-Tettey said.

He credited President Mahama’s decade-old vision of making Ghana a pharmaceutical manufacturing hub in West Africa, citing over GHS50 million invested in at least three pharmaceutical companies under the previous Mahama administration, a move that helped Ernest Chemist, another Ghanaian pharmaceutical giant, build a state-of-the-art, GMP-compliant plant.

The Next Breakthrough

Sodzi-Tettey teased a forthcoming initiative: a government strategy to build a Ghana Pharmaceutical Hub as an integrated ecosystem solution aimed at reversing the country’s current 70 per cent dependence on imports.

“The work is tedious. Brutal even. But moments like this make it lighter,” he said. “The Trade Minister’s industrialisation agenda is on course. The Health Minister’s agenda to improve health outcomes through investments in locally manufactured high-quality medicines is on course. The President’s vision to make Ghana a pharmaceutical leader in West Africa and indeed in Africa is very much on course.”

Sodzi-Tettey said the President’s agenda to make Ghana a pharmaceutical manufacturing leader in Africa is no mere sloganeering.