By Chioma Obinna

A leading Nigerian Pharmaceutical company, Fidson Healthcare Plc, has signed a Strategic Cooperation Memorandum with Jiangsu Aidea Pharma, Nanjing PharmaBlock, and the China-Africa Development Fund in Beijing, China.

The signing ceremony took place during a visit of a team from Nigeria led by the founder of Fidson, Dr. Fidelis Ayebae, including Dr. Babatunde Ipaye and Mr. Oshoke Ayebae.

Through this collaboration, the four parties agreed to actively leverage their respective strengths to establish a new joint venture pharmaceutical plant project in Nigeria.

The new project is poised to promote Africa’s self-reliance in healthcare delivery, especially, to tackle HIV.

All parties agreed to share information and resources, jointly explore investment opportunities in the pharmaceutical markets of West African countries and implement investment cooperation at the project level.

The signing ceremony follows a series of engagements which included a visit by the Chairman of Jiangsu Aidea Pharma- Dr. Heliang Fu to Nigeria earlier in the year.

A press statement signed by the Corporate Services Manager of Fidson, Temitope Akindele explained that during that visit, Dr. Fu toured the Lekki Free Trade Zone, which is the chosen site for the state-of-the-art manufacturing facility that is set to revolutionise the pharmaceutical industry in Nigeria and the wider African continent.

He explained that the partnership between Fidson and the Chinese firms is a sterling example of international cooperation aimed at tackling pressing medical challenges.

“The upcoming manufacturing facility will become a hub for pharmaceutical excellence, leveraging the Lekki Free Trade Zone’s strategic location and comprehensive infrastructure to foster economic growth and healthcare improvement.”

Speaking, Dr. Fu said the collaboration marks an important step for Chinese Pharma players in their commitment to global medical cooperation.

“By integrating our expertise and experience in the field of innovative drugs, we are confident in bringing greater well-being to African patients.”

Expressing optimism on the partnership, Dr. Fidelis Ayebae, believed that the complementary strengths of all parties would inject new vitality into the Healthcare delivery sector in Africa, and in addressing the medical needs of over 1.9 million HIV-infected Nigerians.

He added that the project is coming at no better time as the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA) in Nigeria under the leadership of Dr. Temitope Ilori is championing the government’s drive to provide necessary support and the enabling environment for pharmaceutical companies to start local production of Anti-Retroviral drugs (ARVs).