The Chief Executive of the National Vaccine Institute (NVI), Dr Sodzi Sodzi-Tettey has said Ghana's pharmaceutical industry has entered its "golden era," following the launch of a new policy framework for manufacturing.
The new policy is aimed at transforming Ghana into a continental hub for medicine and vaccine manufacturing.
Speaking at the launch of policy last Wednesday on Wednesday (October 28, 2026), Dr. Sodzi-Tettey said the policy would help answer the critical questions that have long stalled financing for local manufacturers.
He said Ghana's decade-long ambition to lead Africa in pharmaceutical production is now being backed by deeds, not just words.
"We are witnessing the golden era of the pharmaceutical industry in Ghana," Sodzi-Tettey said and added that "in a few years to come, this will be self-evident."
A policy that answers the $100million question
Dr Sodzi-Tettey said the policy was a direct solution to the financing challenges facing the sector and noted that the NVI is tasked with mobilising resources for two private manufacturers and partners, Atlantic Lifesciences and DEK Vaccines Ltd, which need not less than US$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":
He said in 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.
Then in August 2025, President John Dramani Mahama allocated $50 million to the NVI to support vaccine manufacturing.
This year, he said 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 President Mahama this year.
He added that the NVI was on track and targeting 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.
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.
Dr 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 percent dependence on imports.
"The work is tedious. Brutal even. But moments like this make it lighter," he said.
