SANOFI-AVENTIS TO COLLABORATE WITH AFRICAN COMPANY TO FIGHT TB

Sanofi-aventis has announced a joint venture with Litha Healthcare Investments, an African healthcare company, to form Sisonke Pharmaceuticals. The collaboration will be dedicated to supplying and distributing tuberculosis (TB) drugs in Africa. The drugs will be manufactured at the sanofi-aventis production facility in South Africa.

"Sisonke is a unique model in the pharmaceutical industry in that it is South African in every respect. The medicines promoted are used in the fight against tuberculosis, a major killer in South Africa, and were largely researched and developed in South Africa," the companies said in a release.

"The formation of Sisonke is a response to the call for increased Black Economic Empowerment -- or BEE as we all know it -- in our industry. Sanofi-aventis is among the first pharmaceutical companies to answer the government's call for greater empowerment," John Fagan, general manager of sanofi-aventis and director of Sisonke, said.

He also said that Sisonke would be developing more user-friendly drugs. "We recently introduced a blister pack containing a week's supply of TB medication. All the tablets needed for each day are packed in a row labeled with the name of the day This is expected to reduce confusion and to encourage compliance," he said.