The University of Ghana Medical Centre (UGMC) has revealed the need for GH₵50 million to establish a state-of-the-art Clinical Trials Unit (CTU) to conduct research into new medical treatments and devices.
Currently, the centre has raised a little over GH₵1 million in its efforts to transform a large empty space at the hospital’s clinical centre into an operational CTU.
Medical Director of UGMC, Dr. Kwame Anim-Boamah, emphasized the importance of having a state-of-the-art in-patient CTU where trials can be conducted safely to international standards.
A modern CTU would ensure that medications taken by Ghanaians for chronic diseases, such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and cancer, are suitable for the population.
Dr. Anim-Boamah highlighted that many medications used in Africa had their trials conducted in Europe or America, where the genetic makeup of the trial participants was different. Establishing a well-equipped CTU in Ghana would contribute to the suitability and efficacy of medications for the local population.
“For instance, it is now clear that certain medications for hypertension do not work as well in black patients, if the trials for these medicines were done here, this situation could have been prevented,” he said.
He said many pharmaceutical companies wanted to do trials in Africa but the facilities and personnel to do the trials were not available, “a reason why UGMC is positioning itself as the hub for international clinical trials in Africa.”
Dr. Anim-Boamah emphasized that there are numerous herbal products with the potential to cure various ailments, but scientific trials to validate their efficacy have not been conducted. He pointed out that establishing a proper CTU in Ghana could conduct trials to international standards, providing an opportunity to validate some of the herbal treatments.
“Many cancer treatments are now personalized to the patient’s genetics, these treatments cannot come to Ghana to help our patients unless we are able to do the trials right here in Ghana, and at the moment, Ghana and many African countries are missing out on these treatments,” he said.
Dr. Nana Adwoa Konadu, Deputy Director of the Medical and Scientific Research Centre at UGMC, emphasized that a hospital-based Clinical Trials Unit (CTU) at UGMC would facilitate the training of the next generation of Ghanaian clinical trialists.
She highlighted the importance of Africa conducting its own trials, citing the COVID-19 pandemic as a crucial lesson. Dr. Konadu noted that the hesitancy in taking up the COVID-19 vaccine in Africa was partly due to the fact that trials were not conducted locally.
“The performance of clinical trials requires specific training and skills often not taught during the training of health personnel, unfortunately, Ghana has very few doctors and other health personnel who are trained to perform clinical trials and most of them are retired or near retirement,” she said.
Dr Konadu said there was an urgent need to train more personnel, doctors, nurses, pharmacists and trial coordinators for the country.