Pharmaceuticals News
- Co-op to make medicines in China
Date: 6-Aug-2007 Sources: (Shenzhen Daily)
THE Co-operative Group, Britain's biggest mutual retailer, became Friday the first U.K. business to manufacture its own prescription drugs in China as part of a joint venture with a leading pharmaceutical company.
The venture marks the first time that a British retailer has established its own drugs manufacturing business. Chemists, such as Boots, tend to buy their generic prescription drugs from wholesalers or directly from generics manufacturers.
About 25 percent of generic prescription drugs in the United Kingdom come from India, the rest largely come from Turkey and elsewhere in the European Union. China is not a significant participant in the market.
Sants, one of the Co-op's subsidiaries, is to invest 20 million pounds (US$40.56 million) towards the development of a manufacturing plant in Tianjin, as part of a joint venture agreement with Tasly Group, one of China's largest herbal medicine manufacturers. Tasly owns 40 percent of Sants.
The deal will allow the Co-op, which operates more than 600 pharmacies in the United Kingdom as well as wholesaling businesses, to have greater control over its supply chain. The Co-operative Group accounts for 85 percent of all co-operative businesses in the United Kingdom.
Production at the new factory, which will employ 200 people, is expected to start within a year. Initially only well-established generic prescription drugs will be manufactured.
Sants is to supply the medicines to the Co-op's pharmacy outlets and look for opportunities to market the drugs across the European Union.
Tasly was founded in 1994 and specializes in modern traditional Chinese medicine as well as scientific research and development, and production. It is one of China's top three pharmaceutical suppliers and has a market capitalization of about 1.1 billion pounds.
Last month the Manchester-based Co-op merged with United Co-operatives, a smaller mutual grocer based in Rochdale. The enlarged Co-op now has 11 billion pounds of turnover and 4,500 outlets, including 2,300 food stores.
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