GALVmed workshop on the future of harmonisation of vaccine registration in Africa
Information from a workshop held during the Africa regional seminar on veterinary products for OIE National Focal Points held in Johannesburg, 24 November 2010.
GALVmed recently hosted a very successful workshop on the future of harmonisation for vaccine registration in Africa during the OIE National Focal Points meeting in Johannesburg.
Around 50 people attended the workshop including representatives of regulatory authorities from 29 countries.
During the workshop Dr Peter Jones presented the findings of a questionnaire on current practice in vaccine registration which had previously been sent to regulatory bodies for veterinary pharmaceutical products and vaccines in Africa jointly by PANVAC and GALVmed which had a very good response. Thirty five questionnaires were received from a total of 49 questionnaires that were sent.
The evidence collected through the questionnaire and during a subsequent workshop session established that there is strong support for a process of mutual recognition of vaccines in Africa as a first step, whilst in a later phase a centralized system is researched and developed. .
Mutual recognition means that where one country’s regulatory authority has issued a license for a vaccine, other countries would consider recognising that assessment and authorisation, thereby reducing the significant duplication of effort that currently exists. This could reduce regulatory costs and speed the passage of essential vaccines to the people who need them most.
A full report from Peter Jones’s work will be published by GALVmed shortly.
Material from the conference:
Presentation by GALVmed Senior Director Research & Development, Dr Baptiste Dungu
Presentation by Dr Peter Jones on the results of the questionnaires
