Pharma firm Ketlaphela has another shot at finding a partner
The state-owned pharmaceutical company Ketlaphela is once again courting potential business partners and has issued a call for expressions of interest from parties to help it supply essential medicines to SA and the region. The project has been in the pipeline for more than a decade, after the ANC resolved at its Polokwane elective conference in 2007 to set up a state-owned drug manufacturer. It is also behind the target set by former president Jacob Zuma, who said in his 2016 state of the nation address that the state-owned pharmaceutical company would start supplying the Department of Health with antiretrovirals (ARVs) by the 2016-17 fiscal year. The government initially planned to make active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) for ARVs, but had to put these plans on ice when its Swiss partner Lonza pulled out. It then pursued a new model in which it would source and supply Ketlaphela-branded antiretrovirals to the department while it built manufacturing capacity. Now it is once ag...
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