Indian pharma, US plastic surgeon reach deal to build $50M drug plant in Africa

Indian drugmaker Sushen Medicamentos and U.S. physician and philanthropist Michael Obeng, M.D., have agreed to build a $50 million manufacturing facility in Akwamu, Ghana.

The first phase the project is expected to cost up to $8 million and will take about nine months to complete, according to a press release. The overall construction is forecast to be done by early June next year.

The facility is expected to produce medications to treat high blood pressure, diabetes, malaria and pain.

With the project, Obeng said he aims to "put forward the agenda of ‘pharmaceutical emancipation’ because I believe that a healthy nation is a wealthy nation."

The global COVID-19 pandemic cast a bright light on a lack of pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities in regions like sub-Saharan Africa. In response, private individuals, drugmakers, governments and nongovernmental agencies have begun to address the issue.

RELATED: Moderna taps Kenya as site for $500M mRNA manufacturing facility

Earlier this year, U.S. biotech billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong, M.D., pledged $6.5 million to build a manufacturing facility near Cape Town, South Africa, and train workers for the facility.

And just last week, Moderna named Kenya as the country where it will build a $500 million mRNA vaccine production facility that make up to 500 million vaccine doses a year when completed. Pfizer, BioNTech and Johnson & Johnson are also among global pharmaceutical companies that have inked deals to support manufacturing efforts on the African continent.