Fidson Healthcare Plc (NGX: FIDSON), a leading Nigerian Pharmaceutical company has signed a Strategic Cooperation Memorandum with Jiangsu Aidea Pharma, Nanjing PharmaBlock, and the China-Africa Development Fund.
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The signing ceremony earlier in the month in Beijing was done during a visit by a team from Nigeria led by Dr. Fidelis Ayebae, the founder and Managing Director of Fidson Healthcare Plc.
Dr. Fidelis Ayebae’s delegation from Nigeria includes Dr. Babatunder Ipaye and Mr. Oshoke Ayebae. FIDSON announced the signing of the agreement in a regulatory filing on Wednesday.
Through this collaboration, the 4 (four) parties have agreed to actively leverage their respective strengths to establish a new joint venture pharmaceutical plant project in Nigeria. This new project is poised to promote Africa’s self-reliance in healthcare delivery, especially in tackling HIV.
All parties agreed to share information and resources, jointly explore investment opportunities in the pharmaceutical markets of West African countries and implement investment cooperation at the project level.
This signing ceremony follows a series of engagements, including a visit by the Chairman of Jiangsu Aidea Pharma- Dr. Heliang Fu to Nigeria earlier in the year. During that visit, Dr. Fu toured the Lekki Free Trade Zone, which is the chosen site for the state-of-the-art manufacturing facility that is set to revolutionize the pharmaceutical industry in Nigeria and the wider African continent.
The upcoming manufacturing facility will become a hub for pharmaceutical excellence, leveraging the Lekki Free Trade Zone’s strategic location and comprehensive infrastructure to foster economic growth and healthcare improvement.
In the words of Dr. Fu, “This collaboration marks an important step for Chinese Pharma players in their commitment to global medical cooperation. By integrating our expertise and experience in the field of innovative drugs, we are confident in bringing greater well-being to African patients.”
Dr. Ayebae expressed his optimism about the partnership saying that “We eagerly look forward to this collaboration and believe that the complementary strengths of all parties will inject new vitality into the Healthcare delivery sector in Africa, particularly addressing the medical needs of over 1.9 million HIV-infected individuals in Nigeria, a focus of Aidea Pharma.”
He added that the project is coming at no better time as the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA) in Nigeria under the leadership of Dr. Temitope Ilori is championing the government’s drive to provide necessary support and the enabling environment for pharmaceutical companies to start local production of Anti-Retroviral drugs (ARVs).
In November, 2023, Investogist reported that Fidson had signed a strategic corporation with Jiagngsu Aidea Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.
The two companies had in 2023 agreed to share and combine their respective resources, technical expertise and positions in the market to collaborate on project development, market expansion, and other aspects by integrating their competitive advantages in the pharmaceutical field.
About the Partners
1. Fidson Healthcare Plc. is the leading pharmaceutical company in Nigeria engaged in the business of manufacturing, marketing, and sales of pharmaceutical and healthcare products. A wholly Nigerian company that has grown to become a leading player in the West African healthcare
landscape. Incorporated in 1995 and listed on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange Limited in 2008.
In March 2005, Fidson became the first company in sub-Saharan Africa to manufacture Antiretroviral (ARV) drugs locally.
2. Aidea Pharma was established in 2009 and listed on the SSE STAR Market (Stock Code: 688488.SH) in 2020. Aidea focuses on the development of anti-HIV drugs as its core business while leveraging its competitive advantage in the human urine-derived proteins sector. Guided by the unmet clinical and diagnostic needs in China, the company actively explores, develops, and markets innovative drugs, and it is the only high-tech enterprise in the anti-HIV field in China that owns two Class I innovative drugs.
3. PharmaBlock is a global one-stop CRDMO (Contract Research, Development, and Manufacturing Organization) provider. The company offers comprehensive drug screening, development, and manufacturing solutions to global partners through its own R&D and production platforms. It officially began operations in 2008 and was listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange’s ChiNext board in 2017, with the stock code 300725.SZ.
4. The establishment of CADFund is one of the important measures approved by the State Council of the People’s Republic of China at the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in 2006. It is also China’s first equity fund focusing on investment in Africa officially launched in June 2007 and has a capital amount of 10 billion US dollars.
Nnamdi Maduakor is a Writer, Investor and Entrepreneur