The federal government says it is considering the adoption of Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy and other gene-based technologies to expand access to advanced medical treatment in Nigeria.

The Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Iziaq Salako, said this at a ministerial interaction on emerging international technologies organised with partners on Monday in Abuja.

Mr Salako said Africa had lagged in adopting innovative treatments, noting that engaging cutting-edge science would strengthen scientific capacity and transform healthcare delivery across the continent.

“Across Africa, for far too long, our people have been deprived of new and innovative treatments due to a lack of engagement with the potentials in our setting,” he said.

He added that such interventions could significantly strengthen scientific capacity and support the transformation of new technologies into impactful treatments for patients across African populations.

The minister said the government was committed to equipping clinicians and scientists with access to partnerships and ecosystems that supported the adoption of global health technologies for local solutions.

According to him, collaboration between the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD) reflects efforts to strengthen health systems and medicine security.

Mr Salako said Africa remained the only continent yet to deploy CAR-T cell therapy at scale, describing the localisation of the innovation as critical but achievable with strong political commitment.

“As of today, Africa is the only continent that has not begun to leverage the CAR T-cell therapy in a robust and comprehensive manner,” he said.

He said that the next steps would involve scaling the model across different professional and practice settings within Nigeria and across the African continent.

In his remarks, the director-general of NIPRD, Obi Adigwe, said research and innovation remained central to addressing Nigeria’s health challenges and advancing evidence-based healthcare policies.

“At the heart of these presidential initiatives lies research and scientific innovation to develop capacities to solve contextual issues, especially in our most neglected diseases and settings,” he said.

Mr Adigwe said stronger collaboration among government, academia, and industry would help build capacity to address neglected diseases and improve population health outcomes.

The executive director of Caring Cross, Boro Dropulic, said advanced cellular and gene therapies could provide one-time curative treatments for serious diseases, including cancers and genetic disorders.

“These are one-time therapies. You don’t need to take the medicine continuously. You receive your own cells, and then you’re cured of the disease in those situations,” he said.

He explained that the technology modifies a patient’s cells to restore their ability to fight diseases, describing it as a form of regenerative medicine.

Mr Dropulic said the organisation’s model focused on technology transfer to enable local production of therapies within hospitals and specialised facilities.

According to him, this includes training healthcare workers, supporting infrastructure development, and enabling local manufacturing of critical components used in gene therapies.

He said local production would reduce delays in treatment access and eliminate dependence on foreign facilities for advanced medical care.

“By making it locally, you can get these therapies more quickly to patients within a much shorter time,” he said.

Mr Dropulic added that local manufacturing would build skilled manpower, strengthen supply chains, and reduce reliance on imports while improving national health self-sufficiency.

He further said the initiative would create high-value jobs, reduce medical tourism, and position Nigeria as a regional hub for advanced healthcare innovation.

Caring Cross is a non-profit organisation focused on advancing cellular and gene-based medicines through partnerships and technology transfer initiatives.

(NAN)