Following the successful completion of the Africa CDC prequalification process, Pharmakina has been confirmed for onboarding as a registered manufacturer under the African Pooled Procurement Mechanism (APPM), marking an important step in the company’s ambition to strengthen pharmaceutical manufacturing in Africa.
For Pharmakina, this recognition represents more than a procurement opportunity. It is part of a broader ambition: strengthening Africa’s pharmaceutical independence and its capacity to produce the medicines it needs on the continent.
This mission has been at the heart of Pharmakina for decades. Since 1942, the company has developed its activities from Bukavu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, building expertise that connects the cultivation of cinchona, the production of quinine and pharmaceutical manufacturing.
This African value chain is closely connected to one of the continent’s greatest public-health challenges: malaria.
Strengthening Africa’s pharmaceutical capacity
Africa continues to carry the overwhelming majority of the global malaria burden. According to the WHO World Malaria Report 2025, the WHO African Region accounted for approximately 94% of global malaria cases and 95% of malaria deaths in 2024.
Addressing this burden requires more than access to treatment. It also requires resilient supply chains, reliable manufacturing capacity and sustained investment in local pharmaceutical expertise.
For Pharmakina, strengthening pharmaceutical production within Africa is therefore both an industrial and a public-health priority.
Local manufacturing can help reduce dependence on medicines produced outside the continent, strengthen supply-chain resilience and retain pharmaceutical knowledge, skills and economic value within African countries.
Bringing African manufacturers and markets closer together
The African Pooled Procurement Mechanism (APPM) represents an important step towards creating stronger and more sustainable markets for health products manufactured on the continent.
By bringing African countries and qualified manufacturers closer together, pooled procurement can contribute to a more coordinated approach to sourcing medicines and other health products while creating greater opportunities for African production.
Pharmakina’s successful completion of the Africa CDC prequalification process and confirmation for onboarding as a registered manufacturer under the APPM therefore represents an important milestone in the company’s development.
It is both a recognition of the pharmaceutical capabilities Pharmakina has built and a responsibility to continue investing in quality, manufacturing capacity and solutions that respond to Africa’s health needs.
More than 80 years of pharmaceutical expertise in the DRC
Pharmakina’s approach to local manufacturing is rooted in more than eight decades of activity in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
From cinchona cultivated in the Kivu region to quinine production and pharmaceutical manufacturing, the company has developed a value chain that connects African natural resources and expertise with the production of medicines.
Today, Pharmakina continues to invest in strengthening this capacity, with the objective of contributing to a pharmaceutical sector in which more of the medicines needed by African patients can be produced on the continent.
Becoming part of the APPM is another step in that journey — opening new possibilities for African manufacturing to serve African health systems at a greater scale.
For Pharmakina, the ambition remains clear: continue building pharmaceutical expertise and production capacity in Africa, while contributing to stronger and more resilient health systems across the continent.
