South Africa’s pharmaceutical landscape is marked by ambition, urgency and stark inequities. The continent carries 25 percent of the global disease burden but produces only a fraction of the medicines it consumes. Bridging this gap requires more than scientific talent; it demands infrastructure, accreditation and an ecosystem that can move a molecule from idea to impact. At the North-West University (NWU), the Preclinical Drug Development Platform (PCDDP) is positioning itself as precisely that bridge.
Prof. Rose Hayeshi, director of the platform, describes its role with clinical clarity. “The PCDDP is a national facility focusing on preclinical studies for medicines and vaccines,” she says. “The preclinical studies are conducted in laboratory rodents to ensure that new medicines, vaccines and phytomedicines in development are safe and efficacious.” In a sector where promising discoveries often fail to progress due to a lack of testing capacity, the platform is not merely useful; it is indispensable.
Drug development is often imagined as a eureka moment, a scientist discovering a molecule that alters the course of disease. But discovery is only the first act. “There are two main areas in the development of new medicines,” Hayeshi notes. “The discovery phase, when scientists discover or create new molecules, and the development phase, when these molecules are further tested in animals and humans before they can end up as medicines in pharmacies and hospitals.” That development phase begins with preclinical research - “the critical bridge between the discovery and development phases” - and it is here that the PCDDP has become a national linchpin. “The work being done at the PCDDP is important because it provides important data in terms of the safety and efficacy of potential new medicines.”
Crucially, the platform is not abstractly chasing novelty for its own sake. It is rooted in Africa’s most pressing health demands. “The platform partners with local scientists who are developing new medicines and vaccines to treat and prevent diseases affecting African populations,” she says. This includes pathogens, metabolic conditions and burdens of disease that are common on the continent yet underrepresented in global drug pipelines. The platform’s work is quietly yet significantly shaping which African ideas survive early evaluation and progress toward clinical trials. “The PCDDP determines the safety and efficacy of these potential therapeutics, providing important data to determine whether the products can proceed,” she explains. In a country where tuberculosis, HIV, malaria, and emergent viral threats continue to stretch healthcare capacity, domestic capability matters.
What elevates this NWU facility further is its infrastructure, which is rare not only in South Africa, but across the continent. The PCDDP operates a state-of-the-art vivarium with rigorous environmental controls, designed for precision and reproducibility.
The facility’s accreditations are equally notable in a global context. The PCDDP is certified by SANAS for OECD Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) toxicology studies, one of only two such facilities in South Africa. Prof. Hayeshi is explicit about what this means: “GLP is a quality system concerned with the organisational process and the conditions under which non-clinical health and environmental safety studies are planned, performed, monitored, recorded, archived and reported.” The platform is also AAALAC accredited, placing it among only three facilities on the African continent meeting this international benchmark for animal care and use. These certifications matter; without them, data generated cannot legally or ethically support later clinical trials.
NWU’s long-term positioning is equally strategic. With the university’s new NWU Desmond Tutu School of Medicine, the institution is on the cusp of offering capabilities across the entire drug development pipeline. “There is likely to be more clinical research related to the development of new medicines and vaccines,” Prof. Hayeshi says. “The NWU already has expertise in drug discovery. Therefore, the NWU would have expertise in the complete drug development value chain from discovery, preclinical and clinical study capabilities.” In a country working to build sovereign capacity in vaccine research and production, this is the architecture of future resilience.
The platform is not only advancing scientific research; it is cultivating the next generation of pharmaceutical scientists. “The PCDDP also trains postgraduate students through an MSc and PhD in the Pharmaceutical Sciences,” Prof. Hayeshi adds. This investment in human capital ensures that the expertise embedded in the platform is not scarce forever but becomes a national asset with expanding reach.
South Africa needs new medicines, new vaccine technologies and new models for self-reliance. At NWU, that future is already under construction - quietly, rigorously and with an eye firmly on the continent’s unmet needs. Prof Hayeshi’s message is clear: meaningful drug development requires infrastructure, accreditation, talent and an unwavering commitment to both scientific excellence and social relevance. The PCDDP is proving that South Africa can build all four.
