Black empowerment company looks for partners

A newly formed so-called South African black empowerment company, Phila Phola Pharmaceuticals, intends to import and produce generic and patented drugs under licence and is actively seeking established partners from the pharma sector.

Originally intended to be under the umbrella of the Thebe Investment Company, Phila Phola has been spun off as a separate entity and is seeking factory sites in Johannesburg and Cape Town.

Chairman Jiyana Mbere said that he hopes that the company, whose name means 'get healthy' , would supply HIV retrovirals and vaccines, especially for the country's public health sector.

Indeed, as a company commanding black empowerment status within South Africa, it is likely to be given priority over white-owned firms in public contract tenders. Mbere recently visited India to meet the country's pharmaceutical company executives.