Paul Watts's Biography

Paul Watts, Distinguished Professor and Research Chair, Nelson Mandela University

Prof Paul Watts started his career as a lecturer at the University of Hull in 2002, being promoted to full professor in 2011. At the University of Hull he led the micro reactor and flow technology group. In February 2013, he moved to Nelson Mandela University to hold the Distinguished Professorship and Research Chair in Microfluidic Bio/Chemical Processing. He has published of over 120 highly cited papers. He strongly believes that scientists should conduct research that impacts society; the biggest project underway involves the local production of key drugs as the morbidity and mortality from major diseases are much more devastating in Africa than in other regions of the world. The vision is that new technology will be used within South Africa to manufacture generic drugs; this could create jobs and a new manufacturing industry within the country.

Drugs for Africa: Process Intensification for API Synthesis Exploiting Continuous Manufacturing

Thursday, 30 September 2021 at 16:00

Add to Calendar ▼2021-09-30 08:45:002021-09-30 09:45:00Europe/LondonConference Welcome and Introduction by Conference Chairperson -- Flow Chemistry: Current and Future AdvancesFlow Chemistry Summit 2021 in Boston, USABoston, USASELECTBIOenquiries@selectbiosciences.com

While Africa has a variety of companies that formulate medicines, it does not have any form of pharmaceutical industry that manufactures the active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) with the consequence that these need to be imported. This results in increased drug costs making medications unaffordable to most patients in Africa. The current pandemic has further demonstrated supply chain issues when relying entirely on imported products.

To this effect, we are working on developing local drug manufacturing capacity in Africa using continuous flow technology, with the goal of lowering the cost of drugs, improving drug accessibility and ultimately improving Africa’s health. We are developing cost effective and efficient continuous flow synthetic processes towards a variety of drugs to demonstrate that they can be manufactured at lower cost in Africa. The presentation will give a few case studies.

Conference Welcome and Introduction by Conference Chairperson -- Flow Chemistry: Current and Future Advances

Thursday, 30 September 2021 at 08:45

Add to Calendar ▼2021-09-30 00:00:002021-10-01 00:00:00Europe/LondonFlow Chemistry Summit 2021Flow Chemistry Summit 2021 in Boston, USABoston, USASELECTBIOenquiries@selectbiosciences.com

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