May & Baker Nigeria Plc, one of the leading pharmaceutical manufacturing companies in Nigeria, has signed a contract manufacturing agreement with Sanofi Nigeria Limited, a subsidiary of the French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi. Under the agreement, May & Baker would use her World Health Organisation(WHO) certified manufacturing facility to produce four product brands of Sanofi for sale in Nigeria and the West African market.
This agreement not only serves as a direct response to the call by the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) for pharmaceutical brand owners to localise their production by using locally available capacity to produce quality products in Nigeria but also a step forward in Nigeria’s quest for medicine security and self-sufficiency.
The products which May & Baker would manufacture for Sanofi include Flagyl tablets and Suspension and Tarivid tablets,anti-infective medicines and Malareich tablets an anti-malaria.
The agreement was signed by Sanofi’s General Manager and Country Chair Nigeria – Ghana, Mrs. Folake Odediran, and Managing Director/CEO, May & Baker Nigeria Plc, Mr. Nnamdi Okafor.
Speaking on the development, , Okafor said May & Baker invested heavily in setting up an international standard production facility and obtain WHO Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) certification to enable her to extend services to other product owners who might wish to heed the call to localize their medicine production in Nigeria.
He said the May & Baker facility has the capacity to produce six billion tablets and 37.5 million 60ml liquid medicines annually.
“At the moment we are only able to utilize 50 percent of this capacity, leaving a large room for other product owners who may want to use the facility,” he said.
On her part, Oyediran said Sanofi is satisfied with the quality of May & Baker’s facilities and handling of their products.
“Building a strategic partnership with May& Baker Nigeria Plc to support our local manufacturing ambition is based on M&B’s rich history of producing high-quality medicines in Nigeria. It also follows rigorous due diligence exercise and successful compliance outcomes in line with local laws and our global policies” she said.
Source: THISDAY
