Kalbe and Orange Drugs to set up Nigerian JV

Indonesia's Kalbe Farma and Nigerian company Orange Drugs have entered into an agreement to establish joint-venture pharmaceutical factories in Nigeria involving an investment of around $25.0 million.

The joint company, to be called Orange Kalbe, will be 70% controlled by the Nigerian company and 30% by Kalbe. Local production of the firms' drug products is expected to commence around March 2006 in Lagos and Onitsha, where the plants will be located, according to the local newspaper, Vanguard.

The setting-up of the new manufacturing facilities is part of Orange Drugs' strategic plan to move away from importation to local production, and coincides with the Nigerian government's policy that has banned the import of some foreign-made products, including pharmaceuticals, into the country in order to help attract overseas investment.