As part of efforts to stop the importation of drugs a Chinese firms has partnered with Nigeria Drugmakers, Fidson Healthcare Plc, to build a $100 million plant in Lekki Free Trade Zone, Lagos State.
The plant will help alleviate a shortage of medicines and foster self-reliance in health-care delivery, especially to tackle HIV in Nigeria.
FUSION CHRONICLES NIGERIA NEWSPAPER gathered that Fidson Healthcare Plc signed a cooperation memorandum with Jiangsu Aidea Pharmaceutical Co., PharmaBlock Sciences Nanjing Inc. and the China-Africa Development Fund to start building the facility in the commercial capital of Lagos within the next 30 months.
Nigeria imports all its anti-retroviral drugs, limiting availability, and with the exit of US and European multinationals out of Nigeria, including GSK Plc and Sanofi SA, Nigerian company, Fidson Healthcare Plc, which manufactured over-the-counter drugs for GSK, is stepping in to fill the void in the country’s drug-supply chain. It has introduced more than 16 new products since June last year, according to the company.
