Zwide resident and Nelson Mandela University Master of Science graduate Siphosethu Kota, is developing a better, more cost-effective method to produce Enalapril, which lowers blood pressure.
It is one of the most prescribed drugs in hypertension treatment, listed as a World Health Organisation (WHO) essential medicine.
Kota said hypertension or high blood pressure, which was the underlying driver of heart disease and strokes, and the biggest killer worldwide, was a major problem on his maternal side.
“This was a significant motivator for my Master of Science in chemistry for which I chose to develop a better, more cost-effective method to produce Enalapril.
“My goal is to develop something with local and global impact, and I am committed to helping people with hypertension.
“It would also fill me with pride to be able to help my family and community.”
He said he hoped to inspire other township pupils to study hard and earn a degree.
“I graduated with my master’s degree in April and I am now continuing with my doctorate.
“I’ve been at Nelson Mandela University since my BSc degree, followed by my honours in the department of chemistry.
“For my master’s, I was accepted into the university’s South African Research Chair Initiative in Microfluidic Bio/Chemical Processing, headed by Professor Paul Watts, who is my supervisor and a phenomenal scientist.
“Prof Watts and our team of 20 postgraduates and two postdoctoral researchers are at the stage where we are ready to start manufacturing pharmaceutical drugs at scale in our lab for a range of critical illnesses.”
He said medication costs were often highlighted as one of the biggest contributors to insufficient treatment of critical illnesses.
“To reduce the total cost of drug procurement for hypertension and other drugs in SA and throughout Africa, we need to locally manufacture the active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), which are the principal components in pharmaceutical drugs.
“We can do this with a technology we are using in the chair called continuous flow synthesis, which could reduce the cost of these drugs by 20% to 30%.
“In any pharmaceutical drug, about 70% of the cost of the drug is the API. The other 30% is to formulate the APIs into tablets or ‘finished drugs’.
“Our team is looking to partner with pharmaceutical companies to produce the finished drugs, and there are a number of pharmaceutical companies in SA that can do this.”
Currently, SA imports the vast majority of APIs from China and India. SA’s import of pharmaceutical products is more than $2.42bn (R39.4bn) (UN Comtrade 2024 database on international trade).
Kota said using continuous flow synthesis, they were already able to produce smaller quantities of Enalapril and other drugs, but to upscale production they were waiting for the completion of a new state-of-the-art laboratory under construction at the university.
He said he was fortunate to be funded by the National Research Foundation and after his PhD his goal was to continue with postdoctoral research.
“I’m so appreciative of my family who have been very supportive of my academic career.
“My mother, Thabiso Kota, who raised me, continually encouraged me to study hard, which fortunately came naturally to me.
“Both my mother and my father worked hard to send me to a fee-paying school, Lawson Brown High School in Gqeberha, where I was head boy in matric.
“I was always interested in physical science, and was further inspired by my science teacher from grade 10 to 12, Mr Quinton Plaatjies.
“I was intrigued that a pharmaceutical drug could have a specific effect on the body and I knew I wanted to do something in this field.
“This led to my BSc from 2020 to 2022, followed by my honours in the department of chemistry, funded by a postgraduate research scholarship from the university.
“In my honours year, I met Prof Watts and from the moment he introduced me to flow chemistry, I knew I wanted to work with him in this whole new world.”
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