Dear visitor, It is with great pleasure and emotion that I would like to introduce to you our website. Our ambition is not only to present the activities of our company but also to try to popularize the science of medicine. Although drugs are an integral part of our daily life and commerce, drugs are special and specialized goods. It is imperative to follow the advice of health care professionals, e.g., your pharmacist, your doctor, a nurse, etc. for optimal use of them. We are hopeful over time to give you reliable source of unbiased information for better managing your well-being and your health. We agree that drugs are only one element among others as important as they could be, that help maintain a robust health or at least an acceptable state of health. Our approach is somewhat unique insofar as our company is both an avid fan of innovation and intellectual property as well as a fierce defender of the right to replicate an innovation once the period of patent protection has passed. This means as a prerequisite appropriate and predictable regulatory regime that ensures adherence to international quality standards so that the generic product is bioequivalent to the innovator. We firmly believe in the incentive provided by patents to discover breakthrough therapies. Without this stimulus, truth advances would not have happened so quickly. Having been part of a multidisciplinary team involved in the development and registration of new vaccines and new drugs in Canada that have revolutionized the treatment of certain diseases, I recognize that this requires significant financial resources. It is quite normal to protect these investments by patents over a reasonable period of time. However, practices which unduly extend the lifetime of these patents do not meet our approval because they deprive a large number of patients, essentially living in developing countries, with affordable medicines. Another important aspect of our advocacy is to ask our fellow industry peers whether or not licensing negotiation would be mutually beneficial for both the innovator and the generic pharma industry as well as to promote such mechanisms between industry partners. This could facilitate access to new drugs that are becoming more and more difficult provided by patents. They have to pay out of pockets these drugs. Therefore, we are open to working with innovative pharmaceutical companies in this regard and in accordance with international laws protecting intellectual property. As an organization, we have set ourselves the mission to help Sub-Saharan Africans to enjoy a rich and healthy life. This is reflected daily by providing affordable medicines which meet international quality standards to these deprived population, living in majority without health insurance. They pay out of pocket for the medicines they need. To pursue this mission, our business model unfolds in four points which are:

  1. Acquire rights of specialty drugs with or without patents to commercialize them in French Sub-Saharan Africa
  2. Establish partnerships with established distribution networks in Sub-Saharan Africa
  3. Develop generic drugs and manufacture them in Africa to decrease their production costs so that they are affordable to Sub-Saharan Africans
  4. Provide consulting services to Canadian and North American pharmaceutical small to mid-size enterprise as well as around the world to market their products in sub-Saharan Africa.

We believe that collaboration and cooperation with partners from both sides of the industry, i.e., the innovative and the generic pharmaceutical industry will allow to develop fair and sustainable business models to meet the challenges of providing access to affordable medicines in this region of the world. Finally, I invite you to surf on our website to find out information that we think useful to feed your own reflection on medicine. We are proposing 3 short articles that address succinctly important aspects of research and drug development.

  • How does a new drug discovered and what are the different stages leading to commercialization?
  • What is the difference between an innovator and a generic drug?
  • What stages your favorite drug once produced, usually go through before landing in your medicine cabinet at home or at least to where you keep your medication safe at home?

Enjoy! Jean-Pierre Metabanzoulou President