Dr. Sinead Delany-Moretlwe, Director of Research at the Wits Reproductive Health and HIV Institute in Johannesburg, South Africa:



Q. Currently, clinical trials can take years to reach Phase IV. The Covid-19 pandemic has shown us how much quicker it can go. Do you think there are lessons that can be taken from this?



A: We have learned a lot during the Covid-19 pandemic about how we can potentially expedite processes and get products to the people that need them rapidly and I think it’s important to remember that in our region, endemic diseases like HIV are still an emergency. While we don’t want to cut corners and while we want to ensure that we have safe and effective products for people, something that Covid-19 vaccine trials may need to grapple with is no longer using placebo-control trials as it is harder to justify from an ethical perspective, especially as more vaccines begin to hit the market.



Q. What does this then mean from a design perspective for trials going forward?



A. Trial design is going to be very interesting to see going forward. In terms of just the processes, there have been discussions about how to diminish the transition time from Phase II to Phase III and these large gaps that affect when results are being received.&nbsp;



Q. What lessons are there for clinical trials running during a pandemic such as the current one?&nbsp;



A. Future trials are going to have to Covid-proof themselves. We learned during conducting our trial, sibling trials during a pandemic are challenging and we’re going to have to think about how we do these studies so that we are managing staff and participant safety. 



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">Further Reading</h4>



PLEASE NOTE:&nbsp;More stories regarding the Covid-19 vaccine will be published. However, if you would like to read the full Focus piece by Simone Sribrath, click&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/product/single-digital-issue-dec-jan-2020/">here to download the digital copy of FORBES AFRICA.</a>



<a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/focus/2020/12/07/what-goes-into-a-clinical-trial/">What Goes Into A Clinical Trial? (Forbes Africa)</a>



<a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/focus/2020/12/07/all-you-need-to-know-about-the-vaccine/">All You Need To Know About The Vaccine (Forbes Africa)</a>

Medical technician preparing a human sample for HIV testing

Q&A: ‘ENDEMIC DISEASES LIKE HIV ARE STILL AN EMERGENCY’

Perhaps most famously, Route 128 and Silicon Valley in the United States developed around the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford universities, while key European knowledge regions developed at the Sophia Antipolis high-tech park in Côte d’Azur, France, and the Leuven region in Belgium.
In Africa, however, it is a relatively new phenomenon. But some universities on the continent are working towards setting themselves up as catalysts of innovation and entrepreneurship. Notable mentions must go to the University of Nairobi and the American University in Cairo, but South Africa is leading the charge.
The likes of Stellenbosch University, the University of Cape Town (UCT) and University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) are focusing more than ever on equipping their students to be entrepreneurs, primarily in response to unemployment issues in the country. Almost 50% of those aged between 15 and 24 in South Africa are without a job, and some tertiary institutions are adapting by equipping them to become job creators.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/30-under-30/2018/06/04/under-30-technology/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: Forbes Africa Under 30 Technology Entrepreneurs</a>
Bakang Moetse is Impact Investing Project Manager at the Bertha Centre, a dedicated entrepreneurial unit within the Graduate School of Business at UCT. She says high youth unemployment had made the promotion of entrepreneurship an imperative for many African governments.
“Whilst government may be responsible for creating an enabling environment for the development of businesses, universities play a key role in delivering skills and expertise, as well as creating enabling environments for incubation of entrepreneurs,” says Moetse.
Universities also stand to gain. At a time when the relevance of university degrees has come into question due to the number of unemployed graduates and lack of employment readiness of those graduates who do enter the workforce, promoting entrepreneurship provides a way of ensuring universities continue to be recognized as key to the development of societies and economies.
“For universities interested in taking on a more active role in this regard, there is a competitive advantage to be gained in becoming leaders within this field of research, which can further bolster their credentials,” says Moetse.
Stellenbosch University runs its own incubator – LaunchLab – and also invests in some student-run tech startups. Head of Incubation Brandon Paschal says universities that do so will produce more employable and resilient graduates, and their reputations will grow as such.
“Also, with the current student fee climate, if universities are not backing and pursuing commercializing university technology, their financial sustainability and broader access to tertiary education is in jeopardy,” he says.
So how have startups incubated by universities benefitted? G-J van Rooyen was an associate professor at Stellenbosch, and launched his bitcoin-based anti-piracy startup Custos Media Technologies out of LaunchLab. He says it had been a great space from which to grow an early-stage company.
“At a startup, you&#8217;re constantly juggling concerns and issues. Being in a supportive environment where space and facilities are one less thing to worry about makes a huge difference,” Van Rooyen says. “Since LaunchLab is a hub for startups and investors, it directly impacted our fundraising efforts, and introduced us to our angel investor.”
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-36756 size-large" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/edit-launchlab-12-of-94-1024x679.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="679" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/edit-launchlab-12-of-94-1024x679.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/edit-launchlab-12-of-94-300x199.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/edit-launchlab-12-of-94-600x398.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/edit-launchlab-12-of-94-768x509.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/edit-launchlab-12-of-94.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />
Michael-John Dippenaar’s on-demand storage space startup Sxuirrel first encountered LaunchLab after winning a competition run by the incubator, earning funding and support.
“Amongst other intangibles thereafter, and in the period leading up to then and now, we gained help in the form of advice, community and networks,” Dippenaar says.
“We had support in finding lawyers, connecting to additional entrepreneurs to learn from, and access to soft-skill building resources.”
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/focus/2018/06/05/investment-marketplace-coming-to-africa/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: Investment Marketplace Coming To Africa</a>
Training students – and professors – in entrepreneurial skills and providing them a safe space from which to launch their ideas in one thing, but universities also need to ensure they have solid links with corporates and funders to help incubated startups scale. This can be a challenge.
However, Tine Fisker Henriksen, Senior Project Manager, Innovative Finance, at Bertha Centre, says the credibility associated with university brands lends itself to bringing in new partnerships and streams of funding entrepreneurs on their own would not be able to tap into.
“We are seeing increased interest from the corporate sector to get involved in supporting entrepreneurship, and we have managed to establish partnerships that have been valuable in this regard,” she says.
“From our point of view, there is great potential to expand this beyond mere sponsorship of events and once-off fundraising, as is commonly the case, and move in the direction of more sustainable partnerships approaches for rising entrepreneurs.”
The initiatives at places like Stellenbosch and UCT are well developed, with a track record of helping startups launch and raise funding for their next stage of development, but are enough universities following their lead?
Paschal says there is some evidence of this, but it takes time to transform very traditional and conservative institutions. Part of the challenge is that “startup skills” are intangible, EQ-related things that you cannot learn in a classroom.
“The push for universities spinning out companies, and supporting startups and SMEs, is disrupting the traditional role of universities. The trend is going in this direction, but generally universities are battling to get beyond the academic side,” he says.
Henriksen agrees more needs to be done.
“We have seen the top universities develop more entrepreneurial courses, hubs and initiatives. But there is definitely room for greater involvement, and coordination of efforts in this space to create a synergized impact,” she says.
&#8211; Tom Jackson

Tag: Witswatersrand

FORBES AFRICA SOCIAL MEDIA

Q&A: ‘ENDEMIC DISEASES LIKE HIV ARE STILL AN EMERGENCY’

Africa’s New Silicon Valleys