The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) has approved processes leading to Ghana producing anti-snake venom to save the lives of people bitten by snakes.

Snake bite sometimes leads to death due to the unavailability of the life-saving serum and industry players have been working towards finding vaccines for it.

The green light for Ghana to produce the anti-snake venom was done following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between a Ghanaian company, Atlantic Lifesciences, and Vins Bioproducts Limited, an Indian company, for the commencement of fill and finish production of the anti-snake venom in Ghana.

The anti-snake venom will be able to neutralize over 19 different species of snake bites accordingly to the agreement.

The latest development forms part of the government’s agenda to make Ghana the hub of vaccine manufacturing in the African sub-region.

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Atlantic Lifesciences, Dhananjay Tripathi, during the signing of the MoU in Accra said that Ghana would be the first country in West Africa to produce and package anti-snake venom for local use and export.

The Executive Director of Vins Bioproducts Limited, Siddarth Daga, while expressing his satisfaction at collaborating with Atlantic Lifesciences to produce anti-snake venom in Ghana, said the MoU will be beneficial to all parties.

For her part, CEO of the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA), Delese Mimi Darko, said that the FDA has approved the production of the anti-snake venom.

“Anti-venoms are critical vaccine commodities which are often out of stock in Ghana and other regions, leading to unavoidable deaths.

“There are several initiatives globally and nationally underway to increase access to anti-venoms, both here and in the rest of the world,” the CEO of FDA stated.

“This MoU will mark the beginning of several such agreements between local manufacturers and giant pharmaceutical industries to help support manufacturers towards self-sustainability and supply in Ghana and to export to many countries. Everything we test in our laboratory is worldwide,” she

Vins Bioproducts Limited is a leading producer of vaccines.