Pioneer drug discovery center in Central Africa inaugurated at UB

By Nchendzengang Tatah

The University of Buea Center for Drug Discovery (UB-CeDD) was inaugurated by the Secretary General of the Ministry of Higher Education, Prof. Wilfred Nyongbert Gabsa at the behest of the Minister.

The ceremony on the UB main campus February 4, 2025, officially handed the structure which is said to be the first in Central Africa and the second in Sub-Saharan Africa. The UB Center for Drug Discovery is an initiative set up with seed funding from the Calestous Juma Science Fellowship (CJF) funded by the Bill and Melinda Gate Foundation worth one million US dollars. The grant was awarded to Dr Fidele Ntie-Kang, associate professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry and present head of the UB-CeDD who is an CJF first cohort alumni.

The center is made up of five laboratories though just three are fully functional at the moment. The center runs on three grants. One of which was used in it’s construction and another, worth half million dollars from the same donor used in ongoing productions while the third from some German partners is used in capacity building.

The representative of the Minister of State, Minister of Higher Education (MINESUP) and Chancellor of academic orders Prof. Jacques Fame Ndongo, the MINESUP SG, Prof. Wilfred Nyongbert Gabsa lauded the initiative which he said had come to boast scientific research in the pioneer Anglo-Saxon University in the country and higher education sector as a whole.

In his address, the Vice Chancellor praised the commitment of Dr Fidele Ntie-Kang to the field of drug discovery. He said the prestige which the project had given the University of Buea could only foster cutting edge research and discovery in order to enhance the fight against afflictions affecting health. He exhorted Dr. Ntie-Kang, the Principal Investigator (PI) of the Center not to relent in his endeavor and commitment towards drug discovery bannered by the University of Buea.

Dr. Ntie-Kang, winner of the grant and Principal Investigator for his part, assured that the center had been at work since the laying of it’s foundation stone three years back providing for brilliant findings to be made known in the future. According to the PI, the center will focus on HIV, Covid, Malaria and Cancer drug discovery for now.