Cooper Pharma, a Moroccan pharmaceutical maker, has inked a deal to build an antibiotic manufacturing facility in Rwanda.
The facility would be the first of its kind in the country, a state official told allAfrica. It is the second such plant construction deal by Cooper, which previously said it signed a deal in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
The plant in Rwanda is slotted to be built on a nearly 33,000 square-foot plot of land in the Kigalir Special Economic Zone. The facility is expected to open in 2019 and will produce beta-lactam antibiotics, which are among the most commonly prescribed drugs, including Penicillins.
The deal, which was designed to help meet local pharmaceutical needs, was announced during a three-day state visit by a Moroccan delegation led by King Mohamed VI.
"The market entry of Cooper Pharma… is in line with the long held wish by the government to have a pharmaceutical plant in Rwanda,” Serge Kamuhinda, the COO of the Rwanda Development Board, told allAfrica. “This will reduce our trade deficit and boost exports.”