In 2002 Nigeria was one of 10 African countries to endorse a target of allocating 1% of GDP to research and development (R&D); however, the country has fallen short of this goal in the intervening years, with the government pledging to spend 0.5% of GDP on R&D in 2021.
As of May of that year there were a reported 223 clinical trials in progress in Nigeria, equivalent to 0.1% of the global total. The research focus mirrored many of the country’s epidemiological trends: one in three trials was studying infectious diseases, one in seven was focused on HIV/AIDS and one in 10 was related to malaria.
Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) were another major focal point of the trials. One in seven studies was on cardiovascular disease, for example, while one in eight was on maternal health, and one in 13 was on cancer or oncology. Given the growing share of NCDs in Nigeria’s overall health burden, these diseases represent key areas of study for the country’s health officials. Local trials are especially important for precision medicine research, given geographic and population-level variations in genomic data.
Against the backdrop of limited public funding, private players are well positioned to invest in biomedical research in Nigeria, where more robust, high-quality domestic research is seen as an avenue to expedite the development of the sector. 54gene, a Nigerian biotech start-up that focuses on genome sequencing, attracted $20m from Silicon Valley in 2020 for genetic research. The company opened a lab in Lagos in February 2021, and is working to develop a sweeping and genetically diverse dataset to help inform future medical R&D.
At the same time, government agencies such as the Lagos State Biobank and the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research are also involved in genome-sequencing efforts, while the Lagos State Government commissioned a $4.5m biobank laboratory in partnership with the government of Canada in October 2018.
As part of its pandemic response, the Central Bank of Nigeria launched the Healthcare Sector Research and Development Intervention Scheme (HSRDIS) in May 2020 to finance innovative R&D for new drugs, vaccines and diagnostics. The HSRDIS provides grants of up to N500m to biotech and pharmaceutical companies and research institutions focused on vaccine and treatment research for Covid-19, as well as other communicable diseases and NCDs. It also seeks to reduce the bulk manufacturing costs associated with drugs.
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