Senegal-Made Sickle Cell Drug Offers New Hope for Millions Across Africa

Dakar, Senegal — For 18-year-old Mamadou Tahirou, sickle cell disease has turned everyday life into a cycle of pain, hospital visits and missed opportunities.

Although he is legally an adult, Tahirou's frail frame makes him appear much younger. The inherited blood disorder frequently leaves him suffering from severe bone pain, anaemia, exhaustion and debilitating headaches.

“It hurts a lot, and you suffer so much,” he said. “And when you don't have enough resources to protect yourself from the illness, you suffer even more. My parents are exhausted, I know that.”

Pain crises have sometimes struck while he is at school, disrupting his education and forcing him to miss classes.

His mother, Rabiatou Diallo, said the disease has taken a heavy toll on the entire family.

“He has pain in his feet, and at the moment he cannot walk. It is very difficult. The medication and hospital costs are very expensive,” she said.

Africa bears the biggest burden

Sickle cell disease disproportionately affects Africa, which accounts for nearly 80 per cent of cases worldwide. Yet many patients struggle to access effective treatment because medicines are often imported from Europe and the Americas, making them expensive and difficult to obtain.

One of the key treatments recommended by the World Health Organization is hydroxyurea. The medicine can help reduce painful crises, hospitalisations, the need for blood transfusions and the risk of premature death.

But for many African families, consistent access remains a major challenge.

That could begin to change with the production of Drepaf, a generic version of hydroxyurea developed and manufactured by Senegalese pharmaceutical company Teranga Pharma.

First Africa-made hydroxyurea treatment

Teranga Pharma Chief Executive Officer Mouhamadou Sow said the company developed Drepaf to address a critical gap in access to the active ingredient needed to treat sickle cell disease.

“Africans do not have access to the active ingredient,” Sow said. “So the first key point is that Teranga Pharma has enabled Senegalese and Africans to gain access to this molecule.”

Launched in November 2025, Drepaf is available in 500mg doses for adults and 100mg doses for children. The company says its objective is to reduce the frequency of sickle cell crises by threefold.

Before the drug became available, patients who could not afford imported medicines often had few local treatment options.

“Doctors often had to treat the consequences of the disease rather than addressing its root cause, the red blood cells,” Sow said.

The locally produced generic treatment is therefore being presented as more than a pharmaceutical product. Its developers see it as a step towards reducing Africa's dependence on imported medicines and strengthening local healthcare systems.

Push for pharmaceutical independence

Teranga Pharma says its mission is to help shape the pharmaceutical future of sub-Saharan Africa by increasing local production of essential medicines.

“Our approach is based not only on financial considerations but also on public health,” Sow said. “Because if Africa is to develop, if Africa is to enjoy good health, the medicines that Africans take must be produced in Africa.”

The initiative has attracted $7.1 million in funding as the company works to expand production and distribution.

Teranga Pharma is working with an Indian technical partner to increase manufacturing capacity and supply medicines to other African markets.

The company says it is already working with Burkina Faso, Guinea and Ivory Coast, while requests have also come from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon and Cameroon.

A potential turning point

The company aims to supply the wider sub-Saharan African market by 2030, making the project part of a broader effort to strengthen the continent's pharmaceutical sovereignty.

For families such as Tahirou's, however, the significance is immediate. More affordable and locally produced treatment could mean fewer hospital admissions, fewer days away from school and less financial pressure on households already struggling with the consequences of a chronic disease.

As Africa continues to carry the world's largest burden of sickle cell disease, the expansion of locally manufactured treatments could offer a crucial new avenue for improving access to care and reducing dependence on costly imports.

For Tahirou and millions of other patients across the continent, that could mean a future in which sickle cell disease no longer dictates every aspect of daily life.