A consortium led by the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi (KNUST) has secured a €300,000 grant under the PharmaVax Ghana Programme to develop a scalable, locally manufactured herbal pain relief medicine, marking another milestone in the University's commitment to translating research into impactful healthcare innovations.
The grant was announced during an award ceremony jointly hosted by the National Vaccine Institute (NVI) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) on August 19, 2026. The PharmaVax Ghana Programme is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the European Union (EU) to strengthen pharmaceutical research, innovation and local manufacturing in Ghana.
KNUST is implementing the two-year project in partnership with Aspee Pharmaceuticals and the Biotechnology and Nuclear Agriculture Research Institute (BNARI) of the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC). The consortium is among eight successful teams selected from 43 competitive applications, which collectively received approximately €2 million to accelerate the development of locally manufactured health products.
The project seeks to optimise a locally developed herbal pain medicine into a sustained-release tablet formulation suitable for large-scale production, creating a pathway from laboratory research to commercial pharmaceutical manufacturing.
Project Lead, Prof. Priscilla Kolibea Mante, explained that although the herbal remedy has shown considerable promise in managing chronic pain, its wider use has been constrained by the limited availability of the medicinal plant and the impracticality of its current dosage form.
She noted that converting the extract into a sustained-release tablet would reduce the number of doses patients need to take, improving treatment adherence while making the medicine more convenient for long-term use.
She added that the project will also address the challenge of raw material shortages by using plant tissue culture techniques to propagate the medicinal plant under controlled laboratory conditions. According to her, researchers will develop healthy planting materials from seeds, shoot tips and leaves before comparing the chemical profiles of laboratory-grown and wild plants to ensure the authenticity, purity and quality of the final herbal product.
Speaking on the significance of the award, a member of the KNUST research team, Prof. Edmund Ekuadzi, noted that the grant builds on nearly a decade of research and innovation.
"This project builds on research we initiated with KNUST Research Fund (KReF) support of approximately GH¢20,000 in 2017. The current funding allows us to optimise the formulation into a slow-release tablet while addressing the challenge of sustainable cultivation of the medicinal plant through biotechnology," he said.
Also highlighting the broader impact of the initiative, another team member, Prof. Mariam El Boakye-Gyasi said meaningful innovation is achieved when scientific research is effectively linked with industry.
She observed that while research generates discoveries, partnerships with pharmaceutical manufacturers enable those discoveries to be transformed into medicines that benefit patients. Beyond improving access to quality healthcare, she noted that commercialising such innovations has the potential to stimulate local industry and create employment opportunities for young people.
Aspee Pharmaceuticals, the industry's partner on the project, will lead the scale-up and commercial manufacturing of the herbal medicine. The company will apply its pharmaceutical manufacturing expertise to convert the research outcomes into products that can be produced at industrial scale while meeting national regulatory and quality standards.
Managing Director of Aspee Pharmaceuticals, Mr. Kwaku Asante, said the company's role is to bridge the gap between laboratory research and large-scale production. He explained that Aspee's manufacturing capacity and regulatory compliance position it to transform the research findings into high-quality herbal medicines that can reach patients across Ghana and beyond.
The PharmaVax Ghana Programme promotes strategic collaboration between academia, research institutions and industry to accelerate the development of innovative health products. Beyond advancing scientific knowledge, the initiative aims to strengthen local manufacturing, improve access to quality medicines and enhance Ghana's health security.
The KNUST-led project is expected to contribute to these national objectives by developing an evidence-based herbal pain medicine with the potential for commercial production while creating a sustainable value chain for medicinal plant cultivation through biotechnology-driven propagation.
Story: Emmanuel Kwasi Debrah
