Tagged with Manufacturing,

South Africa South African firm Aspen has inked a deal with Johnson & Johnson for the technical transfer and proposed commercial manufacture of their COVID-19 vaccine candidate, Ad26.COV2-S, boosting the company’s share price as well as its global profile.   Aspen is best known internationally for bringing generic antiretrovirals for HIV to…

Mexico COVID-19 has highlighted the importance of secure regional pharma supply chains across the globe, not least in Mexico where the state of Hidalgo has signed a deal with six Indian generics firms to establish a pharma hub for manufacturing and logistics.   One of the leading pharma markets in Latin…

Coronavirus During the fourth International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA) COVID-19 media briefing, one thematic dominated: collaboration. With Eli Lilly chairman and CEO David Ricks, also president of IFPMA; Roche CEO Dr Severin Schwan, also vice-president of IFPMA; Pfizer chairman and CEO Dr Albert Bourla; MSD (Merck & Co.…

Europe In the wake of the COVID-19 crisis and the subsequent strain placed on medicine supply chains in Europe, Sandoz – the generics arm of global giant Novartis – has moved to strengthen its antibiotics manufacturing presence in Austria.   The planned combined investment of EUR 150 million by Sandoz and…

Covid-19 The South African affiliate of Indian pharma firm Cipla will begin manufacturing and distribution of remdesivir, a Covid-19 drug, in South Africa this month. The company’s priority is ensuring access to vulnerable populations in emerging markets.     Cipla South Africa has been granted a license to manufacture and distribute remdesivir,…

Algeria Below we present recent news from Algeria’s pharmaceutical industry, including the creation of a dedicated Ministry to boost the sector, changes to the advertising rules for dietary supplements, and local medical device manufacturers’ efforts in the fight against COVID-19.   Government: Broad prerogatives for the newly created Ministry of Pharmaceutical…

France French pharma giant Sanofi is pivoting its focus to invest more heavily in vaccines with a plan to invest USD 679 million in vaccine manufacturing operations in the next two years. This announcement came shortly after news of further rounds of layoffs of research staff working on cardiovascular diseases and…

Merck Merck KGaA has moved to continuously expand its manufacturing capacity and capability in recent years with a number of headline-grabbing investments in sites in its home market of Germany and across the world. Moreover, the company is now increasingly at the forefront of digitalisation and innovation in its manufacturing and…

Europe Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel recently put their heads together to come up with a health strategy that would ensure greater European access to innovative medicines and COVID-19 treatments.   The so-called “power couple” – German chancellor Angela Merkel and French president Emmanuel Macron –  presented a jointly developed five-point…

India COVID-19 restrictions have severely hampered multinational pharma companies who rely on India for generics and active pharmaceutical ingredients for the last month. With restrictions beginning to ease up, some manufacturing hubs are back in operation.    After over a month of lockdown and significantly reduced manufacturing capacity, the international pharma…

Morocco Morocco, one of the most significant pharmaceutical markets in Africa, boasts a number of domestic firms. Here we highlight eight of the most significant of these companies, the scope of their operation in Morocco and beyond Africa, and the partnerships they have struck with multinational firms.   Galenica    …

Morocco Dr Driss Chaoui, CEO of Afric-Phar, one of the leading domestic companies in Moroccan pharma, provides insight into the major developments that have taken place at the company since we last interviewed him in 2015. These include the opening of an R&D laboratory, new partnerships established with MNCs to distribute…