Vimy Pharmaceuticals, KITAM Science, and ABCHealth partner to open a quality-assured medicines corridor into Africa

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Vimy Pharmaceuticals, KITAM Science, and ABCHealth partner to open a quality-assured medicines corridor into Africa

Canada NewsWire

TORONTO, July 21, 2026 /CNW/ -- Vimy Pharmaceuticals Inc., a Canadian pharmaceutical company, and KITAM Science Inc., a convergent-AI trade-intelligence company, alongside ABCHealth, the African Business Coalition for Health, today announced a partnership to establish a quality-assured pathway for Vimy Pharma's essential medicines into African markets, beginning with an initial pilot.

The initiative pairs KITAM's African trade-intelligence platform, which maps the regulatory, logistics, and market pathway for a product into a given market, with Vimy's commitment to making essential, high-quality therapeutic drugs, manufactured under rigorous Canadian regulatory and quality systems, improving access to high-quality medicines at substantially lower cost.

As Africa faces the world's fastest growth in diabetes prevalence, rising from roughly 25 million cases today to nearly 60 million by 2050, with a substantial majority still undiagnosed or undertreated, this collaboration is focused on unlocking scalable solutions in a critically underserved and rapidly expanding market.1 The first pilot focuses on diabetes care, the fastest-growing disease burden on the continent.

The corridor is designed to welcome additional manufacturers across therapeutic areas as it scales, with Vimy Pharmaceuticals as its manufacturer and founding GLP-1 supply partner.

The initiative is anchored by ABCHealth, the continent's leading private-sector health coalition, as convening and standing partner. ABCHealth positions the corridor within the continental health agenda, convenes the institutions, manufacturers, and health stakeholders required at each stage, and provides the continental legitimacy and oversight that a programme of this significance requires. The corridor's expansion across markets and therapeutic areas will proceed under ABCHealth's convening leadership, ensuring that each stage serves the continent's own priorities for health security and local production.

The partnership is built on a principle of fair, bidirectional trade on Africa's own terms: meeting urgent demand now for what the region cannot yet produce, while building toward local manufacturing and value-addition over time.

All activity proceeds in full compliance with the regulatory requirements of each market, with in-country regulatory work completed through qualified local counsel at the outset of each corridor opportunity, before commercialization activities commence.

"Improving access to essential medicines requires more than lower prices: it requires trusted manufacturing, rigorous quality, dependable supply chains, and strong local partnerships," said Farris Smith, Co-Founder and President, Vimy Pharmaceuticals Inc. "We are proud to work alongside KITAM and ABCHealth to help expand access to high-quality medicines while supporting the long-term development of resilient pharmaceutical capacity across Africa."

"Great infrastructure begins with great partnerships, and great partnerships begin with common intention. We are building this corridor on a simple principle: import-ready is what creates export-ready," said Abolade Oshodi, Founder and CEO, KITAM Science Inc. "Every verified partner, every cleared pathway, and every standard met on the way in becomes capability Africa owns on the way out. The medicines arrive now; the infrastructure stays."

"Sustainable access to quality healthcare depends on strong partnerships that align innovation with the needs of African health systems," said Dr. Mories Atoki, CEO, ABCHealtth. "This collaboration reflects our shared commitment to strengthening pharmaceutical supply chains, expanding access to quality-assured medicines, and creating pathways that support local manufacturing and long-term health security across the continent. As a convener of public and private sector stakeholders, ABCHealth is proud to help catalyze partnerships that deliver lasting impact for Africa."

KITAM, Vimy, and ABCHealth look forward to working with continental health institutions and other stakeholders to provide expanded, affordable, and quality-assured access to essential medicines across Africa.

1 International Diabetes Federation, IDF Diabetes Atlas (Africa region). https://diabetesatlas.org/data-by-location/region/africa/

About Vimy Pharma

Vimy Pharma is a Canadian pharmaceutical company focused on improving access to affordable medicines while strengthening domestic pharmaceutical manufacturing capacity and long-term supply resilience. The company is advancing a portfolio of essential medicines and generics designed to support patients, healthcare systems, and the Canadian life sciences sector.

www.vimypharma.com 

SOURCE Vimy Pharma