25 Jul Interview with Marc Funk, CEO MARBIO, Morocco
According to the WHO, Africa imports between 70 and 90% of its medicines. What are Morocco’s competitive advantages and assets that make it a hub for developing a pharmaceutical and a biopharmaceutical cluster on the continent?
In terms of size and population Morocco is relatively small compared to the African continent, but it has manufacturing know-how that is very important and which, to a large extent, sets it apart from other countries. In the past, Morocco has succeeded in manufacturing and exporting for the automotive and aeronautical industries. These industries are, for the most part, subcontracted by major manufacturers and have generated tens of thousands of jobs over the last few decades.
Following COVID-19 when vaccines were distributed, each country’s vision was me first, then the others. Morocco clearly understood that if they didn’t have manufacturing know-how in the field of vaccines, biological vaccines in particular, they wouldn’t stand a chance in the next pandemic of providing for their population. On the other hand, the country also realized that there is a need in Africa to develop this manufacturing know-how. This is why Recipharm and the Moroccan government have set up a joint venture called Marbio. Historically, Morocco manufactured medicines with chemical rather than biological components. The biological side of the complex takes much longer to set up and you need a multinational to help a company set up on the African continent to do this. This is the first time this has been done in Africa.
What’s really important is that we’re bringing Western know-how to Morocco, so that we can manufacture biotechnological medicines and vaccines. That’s what Morocco didn’t have. Our mission is to build that. Not just for the Moroccan state by extension, for the whole African continent.
What major challenges do you foresee Morocco will have to overcome to develop a functional production chain for vaccines and pharmaceutical products for the continent?
It takes years, maybe a decade, to make vaccines that are effective and efficient. We need to ensure that there are the right tech transfer processes, the right collaborations with vaccine manufacturers to transfer technology; we need to ensure that the Moroccan government supports these initiatives and ensures that there are skills being built and trained in the various institutes and universities to be able to manufacture this. This is new know-how, so we need to partner with academies and applied technology institutes to make progress in this area.
The other very important thing is the regulatory aspect: manufacturing complex biological products requires regulatory know-how, which is currently lacking in Africa and Morocco and which needs to be developed. It’s not only up to Marbio, but it’s also up to the Ministry of Health to do this.
What types of certifications are also required to carry out this type of manufacturing to international standards and what steps has Marbio taken to achieve this certification?
Most certifications are in progress. There’s the certification to be able to export products manufactured on the site to Europe called the European Medical Agency certification, which we’ll be working on in 2024 and 2025. Then there’s the Maturity Level 3 (ML3) certification, which is the WHO standard for accreditation by the major central purchasing agencies for vaccines in Africa. This is also a dual process: we must be accredited as a manufacturer but must also be accredited by the WHO to meet the obligations of the National Medicines Agency. It’s the Ministry of Health that has to ensure that they have all the skills and processes described in the ML3 certifications. These are two different projects, both of which are currently underway. At a later stage, we’ll do an FDA certification, but not before a few years.
What is Marbio’s growth strategy and what are your expectations for the African market?
You can’t have ambitions to export unless you’re already good in your own country. So, the first step is to demonstrate that we are capable of serving Moroccan needs, so as to be able to satisfy the country before exporting. That said, in our roadmap, we have a strategy of working with manufacturers who want to work with us and sell vaccines in Africa, not just for Morocco. In this respect, we’re going to be ready in due course to respond to calls for tender from UNICEF, which is one of the world’s largest central purchasing agencies for vaccines, dedicated to helping the least developed countries. That’s the next step. The other axis is what we now call ‘vaccine diplomacy’, which is a mix between development aid and ensuring prosperity in bilateral relations between Morocco and other African countries.
Marbio targets three customer groups. The first is the local market and the second two are Africa, under the For Africa in Africa label and international pharmaceutical and biotech companies. How important is For Africa in Africa in the company’s production and communication process?
The African Union has decided that 60% of the medicines and vaccines consumed in Africa, will have to be manufactured in Africa by 2040. Today, only 1% of the continental needs are manufactured in Africa. With this in mind, we are positioning ourselves as one of the leaders in meeting this ambition, which is legitimate but extremely complex and difficult to implement. Each country is autonomous, each country can make its own decisions. At the same time, there can only be a limited number of manufacturers in Africa, because of the investment, time and know-how required. Necessarily, it’s a matter of sovereign states working together. The African CDC also has a role to play and its ambition is to act as a central purchasing body in the future.
Morocco has strong ambitions in terms of research, development, training and education. How would you assess the current level of talent in the industry, in biotechnology, in drug manufacturing?
Everything has yet to be done. The good news is that there is a willingness to move in this direction. The ambition is there and there’s young talent ready to do just that. Marbio’s vocation is not to respond to all these challenges, but to be an active contributor, particularly in manufacturing expertise and to collaborate with academic institutes. We will continue to do so. We’re also going to try to forge alliances with various institutes of technology to help build up know-how between academies that will also benefit Marbio in terms of having the necessary skills and in terms of quality control, in biological manufacturing processes, in micromechanics for certain equipment.
The US market accounts for 46% of global drug consumption. How important is the United States as a development partner in the creation of a leading pharmaceutical cluster in Morocco? What does the country and the North American market mean to Marbio?
For the big American pharmaceutical companies, Morocco is a small market. On the other hand, the site we’ve created, which has a regional or continental vocation, is of major interest because, in the future, having a partner in Africa who would manage Africa for them is very important. Not just in the event of the next pandemic, but for a normal situation. Partnerships in this area are under discussion.
What opportunities or new opportunities do you see in the market that might interest American or foreign investors in general?
Biosimilars and all biological drugs whose patents are about to expire represent a potential. There’s competition between Indians, Chinese, Americans and Europeans. Vaccines are obviously a strategic issue for Africa, bearing in mind that by 2040, there will be a billion more people on the African continent. Clearly, this is a major challenge. Then there’s everything to do with medicines and projects to help improve the health situation in Africa, including for example all the projects linked to contraceptives, adapted to Africa’s particular needs. All this represents products that are distributed in volumes of several hundred million units per year.
What is your vision for Marbio and the pharmaceutical sector in Morocco over the next decade and what would be the main obstacles and opportunities that the sector offers?
We need to make Morocco a center of excellence in the manufacture, technical development as well as distribution of medicines and vaccines. That’s the vision. Our Benslimane site covers 45 hectares dedicated to this purpose; and Marbio, at His Majesty’s instigation, is the cornerstone of the whole complex that is to be created. We also need to encourage partners, third parties, suppliers and research centers who want to collaborate, to set up on this site, of course with the right incentives to create this social fabric.
If it were easy, everyone would have done it by now. It requires a lot of perseverance in working with different players: political, regulatory, financial, manufacturing companies and pharmaceutical groups. It’s a mixture of collaborations. Because it’s new, it’s difficult. There are a lot of obstacles to making it work, but it’s our job to make it succeed. It’s not six months’ work, but years of perseverance ahead of us. Korea and Singapore did it successfully, with two or three actors. It’s a bit similar with Morocco. If we look ahead ten years, as a small country, with a few major players capable of monopolizing resources and efforts, alliances with Western companies and a strong desire on the part of young people to work, we should be able to succeed.