Senegal sickle cell drug offers cheaper local option

Senegalese pharmaceutical firm Teranga Pharma is producing Drepaf, a generic hydroxyurea treatment for sickle cell disease that it says is cheaper than imported alternatives and better suited to patients in the region.

The company launched the drug in November 2025 at its factory in Mbao, near Dakar, in 500 milligram doses for adults and 100 milligram doses for children. AFP described the laboratory as one of few in Africa producing generic hydroxyurea and the first in Senegal.

Hydroxyurea is recommended by the World Health Organization to reduce painful crises, hospitalisations, the need for blood transfusions and death in people with sickle cell disease.

Africa accounts for nearly 80 percent of sickle cell disease cases, while nearly eight million people are affected worldwide. A 2023 study in Blood found that 78 percent of healthcare professionals surveyed across 13 French-speaking sub-Saharan African countries reported frequent disruptions in hydroxyurea supplies.

Drepaf's two versions are sold to pharmacies at wholesale prices of 3,000 CFA and 1,500 CFA. Hydrea and Siklos, hydroxyurea drugs already on the market, can cost up to three times as much.

Teranga Pharma chief executive Mouhamadou Sow said the paediatric version meets a critical need for a formula suitable from nine months of age. The company says it is working with an Indian technical partner to increase production, is already working with Burkina Faso, Guinea and Ivory Coast, and has received requests from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon and Cameroon.