Global partners accelerate clinical trials in Africa

The tool aims to enable increased, sustainable and coordinated clinical trials in Africa. CTCAN’s work is supported by the Global Health EDCTP3 Joint Undertaking (JU),    

With the climate crisis weakening health systems in Africa, the compendium helps research centers identify and address gaps in their clinical trials preparedness and ultimately speed local manufacturing, especially during crises. 

The Clinical Trials Community African Network (CTCAN) Consortium is made up of six partner organizations, the Science for Africa Foundation (SFA Foundation), nuvoteQ.io, BIO Ventures for Global Health (BVGH), Johnson & Johnson (J&J), Mérieux Foundation (FMER) and Medicines Development for Global Health Ltd (MDGH).

Speaking at the launch webinar on 10^th September 2025, Dr Thomas Nyirenda, Head of the EDCTP Africa Office, underlined the imbalance between Africa’s health burden and its share of global trials. “This continent has 20% of the global population but contributes less than 4% of clinical trials. If Africa conducted 25% trials, equivalent to its disease burden, the world would be safer. The Compendium is one of the tools that will help us get there,” he said. 

Despite the known challenges in running clinical trials in the region, Africa clinical trial capacity is growing . To build on this, there is need for stronger collaborations, quicker regulatory and ethical approval processes and better visibility of the existing clinical trials capabilities.  

Dr Miriam Njoki, Senior Programme Officer at the SFA Foundation, said the clinical trial preparedness compendium helps centers review their own capacity and improve in areas like quality management, stakeholder engagement and ethics. 

According to Dr. Helen Fletcher, a Scientific Fellow, Communicable Diseases at Johnson & Johnson, the resource was designed to build trust with industry by showing that African sites can meet pharmaceutical standards. She noted that the Compendium helps trial centres demonstrate readiness and reduces barriers that have historically limited investment on the continent. 

Local manufacturing is vital to ensuring affordability and accessibility to medicines. Currently, Africa imports more than 70% of all public health commodities for HIV, tuberculosis and malaria alone. This tool is expected to support Africa’s ambitions to expand vaccine and pharmaceutical manufacturing, a goal heightened during the COVID-19 pandemic when supply chain disruptions left countries vulnerable. 

Corneile Liebenberg, Chief Digital Officer at nuvoteQ, showed how the tool works in practice. He explained that it is built into the CTC.Africa platform so that sites can complete assessments online and generate reports. “The idea was to make it practical. Sites answer questions, identify where they fall short, and the tool points them to resources. It’s a living system that will evolve with user feedback,” he said. 

The Compendium works through six assessment modules on the CTC.Africa platform. Sites answer practical yes-or-no questions on areas such as governance, quality systems, staffing and infrastructure. The tool then generates a report showing strengths and gaps and directs users to guidance and resources. Sites can retake assessments, track progress and share readiness with partners. 

The Organisers said the Compendium will be rolled out alongside practical follow-up support like training, peer learning, and support for sites as they use it. The tool is scalable and will grow stronger through partnerships and feedback from research centers. 

Africa currently imports more than 95% of its pharmaceutical ingredients, leaving it exposed to global supply shocks, donor funding cuts and rising costs. 

This dependence drives up prices and undermines access to essential medicines, making local health systems vulnerable in times of crisis.