11-Feb-2012 - South Africa, Lonza to build R16bn AIDS drug plant

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The 1.6 billion-rand (208 million) venture, known as Ketlaphela, should begin production in 2016 and create 2,200 jobs, Science and Technology Minister Naledi Pandor said today. The Industrial Development Corp. and other state institutions will invest 1 nfl headset billion rand, Basel, Switzerland-based Lonza will bring in more than 500 million rand, and state chemical company Pelchem (Pty) Ltd. will contribute land and facilities worth 100 million rand, she said. “The project is in line with plans of the South African government to address HIV and AIDS through the local and effective production of antiretroviral drugs,” Pandor told reporters in Cape Town. “Ketlaphela will reduce the country’s dependence on imported drugs and will provide security of supply of priority drugs and stable pricing, with less sensitivity” to exchange rates. AIDS claimed the lives of 282,578 South Africans in 2010, while about 5.6 million of the nation’s 50.6 million people are infected with HIV, according to the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS. By the end of last year, more than 1.4 million people were being treated with AIDS drugs at state hospitals and the government intends to more than double that number over the next five years. Aspen Pharmacare nba jerseys from china Holdings Ltd., the largest maker of generic medicines in the southern hemisphere, Cipla Medpro South Africa Ltd. and Adcock Ingram Holdings Ltd. are among the government’s AIDS drug suppliers. The ruling African National Congress party announced in July it was considering creating a state-owned pharmaceutical company to make AIDS medication.

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