South Africa has taken a significant step toward pharmaceutical independence with the launch of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research’s (CSIR) FuturePHARMA facility in Pretoria.

The country currently imports 98% of its active pharmaceutical ingredients, and when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Africa was at the back of the global queue for vaccines and essential medicines as international supply chains collapsed.FuturePHARMA was built to ensure that it does not happen again.

The CSIR opened the doors to the facility on 7 October. It is a pharmaceutical manufacturing facility and controlled environment where new medicines, processes and manufacturing technologies can be tested, validated and scaled up before commercial deployment, bridging the gap between early scientific research and the production of safe, clinical-grade pharmaceutical products.

“It was imperative that South Africa develops a strategic and sovereign capability to make critical health products that it requires and to capacitate itself to deal with future pandemics,” said Dr Rachel Chikwamba, Group Executive: CSIR Advanced Chemistry and Life Sciences.

The facility develops and scales up both biological products like vaccines and chemical products known as active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) for medicines such as painkillers, antivirals, anaesthetics and treatments for tuberculosis, HIV/Aids, diabetes and cancer.

FuturePHARMA operates on an open-access model, meaning universities, small businesses and pharmaceutical companies can use its specialised infrastructure to develop their own product concepts into clinical-grade materials. It also trains the next generation of pharmaceutical manufacturing professionals.

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It hosts the CSIR’s Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients Innovation Cluster, which drives the development and commercialisation of API manufacturing in South Africa by integrating modern technologies such as continuous flow chemistry and biocatalysis across academia and industry.

The CSIR’s growing global profile received further recognition in June 2026 when the World Health Organisation (WHO) officially designated it as a regional biomanufacturing training hub for Africa, bringing its workforce development programme to the global stage.

President Cyril Ramaphosa officiated the launch and delivered the keynote address. Prof Blade Nzimande, Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, delivered opening remarks. Also in attendance were Minister of Finance Enoch Godongwana, Minister of Health Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition Parks Tau, Portfolio Committee on Science, Technology and Innovation Chairperson Lusizo Makhubela, and Department of Science, Technology and Innovation Director-General Dr Mlungisi Cele.

“The COVID-19 pandemic taught us many lessons, chiefly that developing economy countries need to strengthen local scientific, technological and manufacturing capabilities if they are to safeguard the health of their people,” said the president.

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