(2minutes read)
· Now Rwanda has a pharmaceutical manufacturing plant, the
first in the country, known as Apex Biotech Ltd, licensed by Rwanda
Food and Drugs Authority
· In 2016, the country had imported a staggering US$ 100
million that had resulted in swelling up its trade deficit by US$196
million in May 2019
Now Rwanda has a pharmaceutical manufacturing plant, the first in the
country, known as Apex Biotech Ltd, licensed by Rwanda Food and Drugs
Authority (FDA). Located in the Kigali Free Economic Zone, Gasabo
District, the firm is co-owned by Rwandan and Bangladeshi investors.
The plant will be manufacturing a total of 34 medicines in different
dosage forms; tablets, capsules and syrups and will have an annual
capacity to produce 800 million packets of tablets, 200 million
capsules, 8 million bottles and 5 million Oral Rehydration Therapy
(ORT) sachets, when it reaches the optimum capacity. The medicines are
for treatment/prevention of a wide-range of medical conditions
including malaria, HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, Hepatitis as well as
non-communicable diseases like heart diseases, diabetes, malnutrition,
women’s and children’s health and chronic pain conditions.
Rwanda imports most of its requirements of medicines. In 2016, the
country had imported a staggering US$ 100 million that had resulted in
swelling up its trade deficit by US$196 million in May 2019. The firm
is now in the final phase of machinery installation and pilot batch of
medicines will be out by the end of next month and the commercial
production will start by April, according to Dr. AA Faruque, Managing
Director and Founder Partner of Apex Biotech Ltd.
According to FDA, many other pharmaceutical companies would start
operating from Rwanda and the country is targeting to meet the surging
demand for medicines in the continent. Many companies have applied for
licenses, which include names like Cooper Phrama, for making
injectable medicines, such as sterile antibiotics, pain killers,
anti-fever medicines etc.
