Nigerian Drugmaker to Build US$3mn Manufacturing Unit

Nigeria-based drug producer Afrab-Chem Ltd. is to build a new US$3mn manufacturing plant and laboratory in the country's capital, Lagos. The facility is to receive the approval of the World Health Organisation, with the production unit to be completed by year-end 2007.

It is unclear which products the unit will manufacture, although the company's existing portfolio of more basic medicines, such as antimalarials, suggests that the new unit will supply treatments for disease threats identified by international health agencies.

The project also appears to have the approval of local drug regulators, which have welcomed the possibility of a new unit that could supply safe, non-counterfeit drugs for regional markets. Afrab-Chem, which is reported to have received past investment from Jordanian manufacturers and Western drugmakers, such as Italy's Zambon SpA, claims to have recently modernised its main production unit to good manufacturing practices standards.