AstraZeneca is part of a joint venture to build a $125 million plant in North Africa. The company established AstraZeneca al-Djazair, with two companies in Algeria, Salhi and Hasnaoui, to construct the facility. Algerian law requires that local companies have the majority ownership, so AstraZeneca will have a 49 percent interest, invest the $125 million to build the facility, oversee the technological transfer and manage the project and the facility once it is built.
Sofia Ylén with AstraZeneca global relations said while the location has not been officially determined it is likely the facility well be built in the capital, Algiers. Construction is expected to begin in the fall and be completed in the first half of 2017. It is projected to have 104 employees and when ramped up, be able to turn out 300 million tablets a year, said Ylen.. The facility will make cardio, cancer, gastroenterology and diabetes drugs. Diabetes is another of AstraZeneca’s 5 growth platforms, which also includes boosting sales of clot-buster Brilinta, respiratory treatments and expansion in Japan, according to FiercePharma.
North Africa has been drawing more attention from Western drugmakers recently, hunting the world for markets where they can reap faster growth than in the larger, but slower growing markets in the west. AstraZeneca has been in the country since 2007 and has about 180 employees there.
Source: Fierce Pharma
