The Institut Pasteur de Tunis and the Tunisian state corporation la Pharmacie Centrale de Tunisie have entered into a strategic alliance with Canada’s ProMetic Life Sciences to set up a biopharmaceutical company in the Arab state.
The project, whose estimated value is 60 million Canadian dollars ($45 million), will initially produce four types of drugs designed to combat diseases common to Africa and the Middle East, such as hepatitis and certain forms of cancer.
ProMetic will grant an exclusive license to the Tunisian company, so that it may use ProMetic's technologies to produce and market the four products.
The project’s budget includes a revenue estimate of CND 30 million for ProMetic that will be paid over a three-year period, plus royalties on sales. Approximately CND 30 million have been earmarked for construction and validation of the new plant, which will be located in the Sidi Thabet Technocity in Tunisia.
ProMetic Life Sciences is a biopharmaceutical company with headquarters in Montreal, Canada, and with additional facilities in the UK and marketing presence in the US. ProMetic specializes in research, development, manufacture and marketing of a variety of commercial applications from its proprietary platform technologies, which are used in the development of therapeutics, the elimination of pathogens, proteomics and large-scale drug purification.
La Pharmacie Centrale de Tunisie is a state corporation responsible for the importation of drugs necessary for hospitals and pharmacies. It contributed in a direct or indirect manner, to the launch of several pharmaceutical units such as the SIPHAT, MEGA, SAIPH and IBN ALBAYTAR. — (menareport.com)
© 2003 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
