Factors Affecting the Implementation of University-Industry Technology Transfer Within the Pharmaceutical Industry in Cameroon

This paper examines pharmaceutical research and innovations in the context of the Bay-Dohle Act of 1980 and the subsequent developments in the legal framework concerning Cameroon. It highlights the shortcomings in research and challenges faced by universities in Cameroon, along with resulting deficiencies that stem from these issues. University-Industry Technology Transfer (U-ITT) is fundamental in fostering invention and innovation of pharmaceuticals. The USA is considered as the pioneer country to introduce this approach through the adoption of the Bay-Dohle Act. Which permitted universities to possess patents and to market universities’ outcomes developed under funded programs to other organizations, which facilitated university-industry technology transfer. This encouraged industrialized countries such as India, China, Brazil to have recourse to this type of technology transfer. Universities serve as hotbeds of scientific research nurturing a wealth of knowledge. In the transfer of technology between universities and pharmaceutical industry, research outcomes from universities are transferred to the pharmaceutical industry which combines them with its resources and expertise. A growing body of literature has demonstrated U-ITT to be effective in the combat of global threat with drug discoveries such as Allegra, Lyrica, MRNA vaccines. In the Cameroonian context, universities’ researches are still undermined and results emanating from universities’ laboratories are neglected and there are still no effective collaboration pattern between universities and industries. This is because of different challenges faced by universities, the pharmaceutical industry and the State to promote technology transfer between the university-industry. Despite the efforts made by the Ministry of Higher Education (MINESUP) to establish policies such as the University-Industry Partnership Charter signed with GICAM in 2010, urging collaborative research. And the Framework Partnership Agreement signed in 2024 between MINESUP and the Standards and Quality Agency (ANOR) for the support and accompaniment of higher education institutions in the standardization and quality process as part of the implementation of university-enterprise. The aim of this article is to determine the factors inhibiting U-ITT in the pharmaceutical industry in Cameroon and the benefits to be enjoyed by stakeholders involved in such process. To achieve our objective, we use qualitative research methods. The study reveals that, universities, the pharmaceutical industry and the State collectively face challenges which hinder the successful implementation U-ITT in the pharmaceutical industry in Cameroon. To solve the problems discovered in our findings, the research provides the different attempts made by the state aimed at curbing and curtailing the lapses.