Kelly Chibale set out to prove world‑class drug discovery can be done from Africa. A Zambian trained in the U.K. and U.S., he returned to Cape Town in 1996 and founded the Holistic Drug Discovery and Development (H3D) Centre at the University of Cape Town in 2010. H3D focuses on diseases that hit the continent hardest — malaria, tuberculosis and antimicrobial resistance — and on building the local scientific capacity to develop treatments for African patients.
Unlike many African institutions, H3D combines chemistry, biology and development expertise under one roof, giving it the tools to move early discoveries toward clinical testing. The lab fills much of a chemistry building floor with fume hoods, instruments and automated systems. Its workflow is classic, industrial‑scale drug discovery: screen large libraries of compounds with robotics to find molecules that block a pathogen or inhibit a key enzyme; then use medicinal chemistry to refine those hits for potency, selectivity and safety so they kill parasites without harming human cells. Chibale often compares the search to a fairy‑tale quest — many dead ends and disappointments before finding a candidate worth advancing.
That process has delivered real progress. A little over a decade ago H3D produced a malaria compound that progressed to human trials in South Africa and Ethiopia. Later animal studies revealed a safety concern: the molecule targeted an enzyme also present in humans. Development was stopped out of caution, a reminder of both the promise and the risks in drug discovery.
Developing drugs at H3D is about more than molecules. Chibale has made capacity building a central goal so Africa can discover medicines and retain talent. The center now employs more than 75 people from across the continent, including scientists such as Mathew Njoroge from Kenya and Mwila Mulubwa from Zambia. Njoroge’s work on pharmacokinetics — how drugs are absorbed, metabolized and excreted — is especially important because Africa’s genetic diversity affects drug processing. Dosing and safety profiles established elsewhere may not apply directly to African populations, so generating local data is crucial.
Practical constraints complicate those efforts. In many Western labs, donated human livers are used to test metabolism before clinical trials; organ donation is less common across much of Africa for cultural and historical reasons. H3D therefore works with a limited set of liver samples and supplements experiments with computer models that simulate metabolism across African subpopulations to predict safer, optimized dosing. Those modeling steps are part of the elaborate pipeline required to move a compound from bench to clinic in a way that reflects regional needs.
H3D’s integrated model and ambition have drawn international recognition. Peers describe it as a leading center for comprehensive drug discovery targeting diseases of the developing world, and experts in other regions suggest the approach could be replicated across the Global South with more intercontinental partnerships. Given that Africa shoulders the vast majority of global malaria cases and deaths, institutions that can lead research locally are especially valuable.
Chibale’s personal story underscores the center’s mission. As a child he survived a severe malaria infection, an experience that convinced him of the difference medicines can make and of the debt owed to volunteers in clinical trials. He wants Africa not only to benefit from medicines developed elsewhere but to produce them and keep researchers involved in that work on the continent.
H3D blends technical rigor with a broader purpose: aligning drug discovery with African health priorities and creating career opportunities that keep talent at home. Its integrated facilities, multinational staff and global collaborations offer a model for locally led science to tackle diseases that disproportionately affect the Global South.
Reporting for this story was supported by a grant from the Pulitzer Center.