The first generic drug manufacturing plant inaugurated in Burkina Faso
The Burkinabè Propharme factory currently manufactures three generic drugs, including paracetamol (illustration image) commons.wikimedia.org
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
Propharm is the leading generic drug manufacturing company in Burkina Faso.
Propharm was officially inaugurated on Monday by the Prime Minister of Burkina Faso.
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It is an entirely private initiative, financed by Burkinabè and sub-regional capital.
The factory, which cost fifteen billion CFA francs, currently manufactures three generic drugs including paracetamol, and will eventually offer about ten.
The production capacities allow Propharm to consider supplying the neighboring countries of Uemoa.
The initiative for this government-backed project came from a group of professional pharmacists led by Palingwindé Armel Koéfé, CEO of Propharm.
He explains at the microphone of
Olivier Rogez
that the company was born from a meeting between pharmacists and financiers.
“
There was a marriage between these two groups to lead to Propharm.
We have a complete chain that allows us to do granulation, mixing, capsule filling, compression, coating, etc.
This is done in an atmosphere that is controlled, so germs, particles, temperature, humidity, pressure, everything is controlled and this unit was designed by Italians.
The equipment was acquired in the United States, in Texas more precisely.
»
The head of the company ensures that despite the competition, "the
product, in its current state, with all the charges and costs, is competitive
".
He nevertheless recognizes that “
the margins we generate are not huge, because we are in a market where there are a lot of drugs that come from India or China and which are very difficult to compete with
”.
Palingwindé Armel Koéfé underlines that in this project, the support of the State is essential.
“
We benefit from support from the State in terms of approval of the investment code.
So this approval gives us a number of tax exemptions.
“An approval that should extend over the next seven years, he says.
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Health and medicine
Burkina Faso