Pharmakina
Pharmakina is a pharmaceutical company based in Bukavu , Democratic Republic of the Congo . The main product is the anti-malarial drug quinine .
History of the company
1942, the company is Congo-Kina through a merger of several growers of Chiningrundstoffs cinchona founded. In 1956 the company was taken over by a German-Belgian investor group and renamed Pharmakina. In 1961, Pharmakina was taken over by the German pharmaceutical company Boehringer Mannheim . In 1998 Boehringer Mannheim is bought by the Swiss company Hoffmann-La Roche . Hoffmann La Roche has no strategic interest in Pharmakina and wants to close the company. As part of a management buyout , the German Horst Gebbers and the French Etienne Erny - both of whom have previously been managers at Pharmakina - take over the company. Due to a lack of funds for investments, the new owners turn to the Mannheim entrepreneur family Engelhorn , the former owners of Boehringer Mannheim, who then take over a 20 percent stake in Pharmakina.
Products
quinine
Pharmakina owns 1200 hectares of land for cultivating cinchona bark and buys twice as much cinchona bark from small farmers in the provinces of Kivu for its own harvest . The company achieves a world market share of around 30–35% in quinine production, making it the world market leader. Pharmakina not only produces quinine for the pharmaceutical industry, but is also the quinine supplier to the English company Fever-Tree and occasionally to the Schweppes beverage company , which use quinine as a bitter food additive for making soft drinks.
Afri-Vir
In July 2005, Pharmakina became the first company in Africa to start manufacturing a combination antiretroviral drug for AIDS . The drug called Afri-Vir contains the active substances stavudine , lamivudine and nevirapine . Pharmakina has now stopped manufacturing ARVs.
Economical meaning
With 800 permanent employees and 1200 seasonal workers, Pharmakina is the largest private employer in Eastern Congo.
swell
- Article about Pharmakina in the FAZ (from June 21, 2005)
- Article about Pharmakina in Deutsches Ärzteblatt (September 23, 2005)
- Die Zeit Nr.29 2005: "Congo's little economic miracle"