Kenya to benefit from expansion of Chinese drugs giant

Kenya will be one of the beneficiaries of an expansion plan by a giant pharmaceutical company in China.

China National Pharmaceutical Group is currently in discussions with a number of African, Latin American and Asian countries in a bid to partner with local medicinal and pharmaceutical firms in the production of medicines, including Covid-19 vaccines, locally.

Already, Sinopharm, as the company is commonly known, has collaborated with Morocco in production of Covid-19 vaccines locally.

Sinopharm general manager in charge of the international market Zhou Song said their plan is to extend the same approach in other African countries including Egypt, Kenya, South Africa and possibly Nigeria.

Africa is an emerging big market for many firms because of its human capital.

The continent has a huge and largely youthful population, making it attractive for multinational firms.

“We are in discussions with various African governments to see how we can improve our cooperation in the medical field,” Song said.

He spoke on Friday when a group of African and Asian journalists visited the firm’s factory in Beijing, China.

“When the pandemic struck, our firm embarked on the development of our world-leading Covid-19 reagents, four special Covid-19 medicines, and independently developed four types of vaccines using three different technologies,” Song said.

Sinopharm’s Covid-19 vaccines have been approved by the World Health Organization and accorded the European Union Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) certification.

Fu Qiang, Sinopharm’s chief engineer, said their African agenda includes providing skilled training for local medical experts.

“Ours is medical diplomacy. Not only do we partner in Covid-19 production and distribution, we also train local medical officers in many other fields. So far, we have trained over 1,000 medical experts in Africa,” Qiang said.

The chief engineer said the cooperation between the firm and African governments will ensure a healthier bilateral relations between African governments and China.

Dong Jun, the firm’s international marketing manager, said they are ready to diversify their cooperation with Africa to include production of not only vaccines but also medical appliances, other medicines, among others.

Kilifi county-based firm Revital Healthcare (EPZ) has already put Kenya on the global map in the medical field after becoming the world’s first manufacturer of a respiratory device that supports neonates and infants with breathing problems, without the need for electricity.

The Vayu Bubble Continuous Positive Airway Pressure system, manufactured by Revital Healthcare (EPZ) Ltd, provides blended oxygen to the infants without the use of electricity.

The firm is the only manufacturer of the Covid test kits in Africa and one of the 66 manufacturers in the world which is USFDA (United States Food and Drug Administration) certified.

The firm has a capacity of producing 80,000 test kits a day.

On Friday, Song however said Africa needs to accelerate the process of issuance of licenses to firms that apply for it.

Sinopharm has over 500 licenses to manufacture and distribute medicine and medical products and appliances across the globe. Most of the license are in Europe.

Egypt was the first African country to receive Covid-19 vaccines from Sinopharm at the onset of the pandemic. It is one of 66 countries in Africa and Latin America to receive vaccines in foreign aid from Sinopharm.

So far, the firm has distributed 3.5 billion doses of their vaccines worldwide and has a production capacity of five billion doses a year.

“During the battle against Covid-19, Sinopharm played a role as the main channel of foreign aid and export of medical supplies, providing more than 3.3 billion items of anti-pandemic supplies to 170 countries and regions,” Zhu Jingjing, President of Sinopharm Group’s biological products division said.

Jingjin said though there is no case of monkeypox reported in China, research on the disease is ongoing and they will soon come up with a solution.

“The detection kit developed by us has already obtained the certification of the European Union. In order to prevent the epidemic from further spreading on a large scale, we insist on continuous research. We are committed to providing Chinese technology to the world," he said.

Jingjin said in the last three years, Sinopharm has invested 14.5 billion yuan (approximately Sh252.3 trillion) in scientific research.

Sinopharm is the biggest pharmaceutical firm in China and was recently ranked 80th in the 2022 Fortune 500 list by American Fortune magazine.

It also undertakes 36 major sci-tech projects and 93 scientific research projects for the country which will help the development of advanced technologies in the medical industry.

 

 

-Edited by SKanyara