Sanofi-Aventis Group Invests € 20 Mln in Morocco

Sanofi-Aventis pharmaceutical group has opened a state-of-art logistics hub in Casablanca, Morocco, giving a new impetus to the thriving pharmaceutical industry in the North African nation.
The facility, built over a 12,000-sq/m2 zone, cost the Paris-based company an investment of 20 million euros. It will handle 1,300 products destined for local market and for export to sub-Saharan Africa.
The new Sanofi hub installed in Morocco will become “the largest distribution center for Sanofi’s pharmaceutical products on the African continent,” said the company’s CEO, Mr. Christopher A. Viehbacher.
Sanofi has another manufacturing plant already operating in Casablanca, which the drugmaker said produced 70 million units last year. That includes 20 million units of the malaria treatment destined for Africa countries witnessing an increase in chronic diseases and an emerging middle class that can pay for treatments.
Sanofi-Aventis has pledged to help Morocco improve medical care for patients suffering from type 1 diabetes, mental disorders and epilepsy in addition to the training of medical staff, practitioners and boosting pharmacy research.
Under some agreements inked with Moroccan government, Sanofi group agreed to contribute to setting out standard care protocols for children and young people with diabetes. This will include a standardized therapeutic education program and the setting up of two new diabetes pediatric centers in Morocco, adding to the existing 11 centers.
The company also pledged to provide training for Moroccan psychiatrists, neurologists and nurses for better management of patients suffering from epilepsy and other mental illnesses.
Sanofi has been present in Morocco for over 50 years and is the market leader in the country. It has a workforce of 900 people and its activities include registering, producing, distributing and marketing pharmaceutical products (including innovative, traditional, and generic medicines, vaccines and consumer-health products) as well as dietary products and medical devices.
The pharmaceutical sector in Morocco is the second largest on the African continent, following South Africa. It is made up of 40 industrial units, 50 distributors, and more than 11,500 pharmacies. Local production supplies 70% of domestic demand and the country exports 10% of its production, particularly to neighboring African nations.