Current Initiatives

Grand Challenges (GC) Africa Drug Discovery

The African Academy of Sciences (AAS), through its Grand Challenges programme, The Drug Discovery and Development Centre (H3D) at the University of Cape Town (UCT), Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) came together in 2018 to expand and strengthen the drug discovery community in Africa.

Specifically, this project seeks to target the best African scientists in drug discovery either already working in the field or whose expertise can be leveraged to bring positive change while at the same time create a cohort of future leaders to build and sustain world-class research teams in this science. We seek to form interlinkages within the continent to develop drug discovery teams with successful innovative projects and give an opportunity to connect to mentors and drug discovery networks outside the continent.

The aim of this initiative is to build a foundation for relevant and accelerated drug discovery and project-driven capacity building in Africa. We seek to create interlinkages within the continent to build drug discovery teams with successful innovative projects and give an opportunity to connect to mentors and drug discovery networks outside the continent.

The overall objective is to grow and strengthen the drug discovery community in Africa and catalyze the increase in capacity in this science across the continent.

Specific objectives

To identify new chemical entities with potential for drug development in diseases of local relevance for Africa, including validating hits, and conducting hit to lead and lead optimization campaigns.
To identify strategies and policies that promote the sustainability of drug discovery programs on the continent.
To identify centers and build research capacity for drug discovery within qualifying institutions.
To strengthen the drug discovery network by building interlinkages between the different groups including those identified as having basic and translational science capacities.

The first cohort of eight drug discovery scientists was successfully awarded, in June 2019, after a rigorous selection process. The second cohort of eight scientist are due to receive funding in 2021. In this next phase of the programme, H3D Foundation will provide additional support to the grantees by managing the industry mentorship programme, drug discovery training and additional networking events