Rwanda
could soon be one of the first countries in Africa to venture into
clinical trial tests and research for cancer and other diagnostic
diseases.
This
follows an exploratory visit by Robert Mulroy, the CEO of Merrimack
Pharmaceuticals, a biopharmaceutical company involved in developing and
preparing innovative medicines for the treatment of serious diseases,
amongst them cancer.
Mulroy
was in the country on a three-day visit, during which he held meetings
with top government officials, including the CEO of Rwanda Development
Board, Francis Gatare.
He
also interacted with senior officials from the Ministry of Health to
discuss key possible areas of partnership, most especially in the areas
of clinical research tests.
Speaking
to The New Times after his meeting with Gatare, Mulroy said his firm
carries out research with the hope of introducing better treatment for
people across the globe and was looking into ways of partnering with the
Rwandan government.
“We have been discussing opportunities about how we could expand our research to include Rwanda and Africa,” Mulroy said.
He added that they had had positive discussions and were looking forward to exploring opportunities for partnerships.
He
said they had been attracted to Rwanda by the positive climate for
partnership and that the ties would help improve the health sector. “We
visited the cancer centre at Butaro and were pleased with what we saw.
We saw a strong foundation for cancer treatment and are committed to
improving it further,” Mulroy added.
He disclosed that the government has also opened up opportunities of partnership in various sector.
Patrick
Ndimubanzi, the Minister of State in charge of Public Health and
Primary Healthcare, said they are looking forward to the collaboration.
The
exploration by the pharmaceutical comes about the same time experts
have been calling for the development of a multi-disciplinary approach
for cancer management.
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