Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2022 Sep 15;16(9):e0010645.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0010645. eCollection 2022 Sep.

Drug discovery research in Ghana, challenges, current efforts, and the way forward

Richard Kwamla Amewu  1 , Patrick Amoateng  2 , Patrick Kobina Arthur  3 , Prince Asare  4 , Isaac Asiamah  5 , Daniel Boamah  6 , Isaac Darko Otchere  4 , Cedric Dzidzor Amengor  7 , Edmund Ekuadzi  8 , Kelly Chibale  9 , Susan Jane Farrell  10 , Regina Appiah-Oppong  11 , Dorcas Osei-Safo  1 , Kevin David Read  10 , Ian Hugh Gilbert  10 , Dorothy Yeboah-Manu  4
Affiliations
Review

Drug discovery research in Ghana, challenges, current efforts, and the way forward

Richard Kwamla Amewu et al. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. .

Abstract

We have a long-term vision to develop drug discovery research capacity within Ghana, to tackle unmet medical needs in Ghana and the wider West African region. However, there are several issues and challenges that need to be overcome to enable this vision, including training, human resource, equipment, infrastructure, procurement, and logistics. We discuss these challenges from the context of Ghana in this review. An important development is the universities and research centres within Ghana working together to address some of these challenges. Therefore, while there is a long way to go to fully accomplish our vision, there are encouraging signs.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. United Nations Strategic Development Goals, which can be impacted by Drug Discovery.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Universities and Institutes with an interest* in drug discovery in Ghana.
*This was determined based on publications in drug discovery and through records of collaborations across the institutions. The base map used for constructing the map as well as the copyright information for use of the base map files are freely available at https://data.humdata.org/dataset/cod-ab-gha. No changes were made to the base map files.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Chibale K, Wicht KJ, Woodland JG. Medicinal Chemistry Out of Africa. J Med Chem. 2021;64:10513–10516. doi: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.1c01183 - DOI - PubMed
    1. https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/news/communications-material/
    1. Annan K, Ekuadzi E, Asare C, Sarpong K, Pistorius D, Oberer L, et al.. Antiplasmodial constituents from the stem bark of Polyalthia longifolia var pendula. Phytochem Lett. 2015;11:28–31.
    1. Ekuadzi E, Dickson R, Fleischer T, Annan K, Pistorius D, Oberer L, et al.. Flavonoid glycosides from the stem bark of Margaritaria discoidea demonstrate antibacterial and free radical scavenging activities. Phytother Res. 2014;28(5):784–787. doi: 10.1002/ptr.5053 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Kyekyeku JO, Kusari S, Adosraku RK, Zühlke S, Spiteller M. Prenylated 2-arylbenzofuran derivatives with potent antioxidant properties from Chlorophora regia (Moraceae). Fitoterapia. 2016;108:41–47. doi: 10.1016/j.fitote.2015.11.013 - DOI - PubMed

Publication types