South Africa Plans Antiretrovirals

The South African government is in discussions with Lonza and the local firm Pelchem about building a $200 million joint-venture facility that would make active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) for antiretroviral drugs. One goal of the venture, called Ketlaphela, is to reduce the country’s dependence on imported APIs for drugs that treat HIV and AIDS. Another is to develop downstream applications for South Africa’s fluorite reserves. Several important antiretrovirals contain fluorine. At present, state-owned Pelchem is the only South African company to make fluorochemicals.