Content :

Production close to the final consumer - Actions

 

• New industrial development center in India
• Relocation of COMBIFLAM production (pain and fever) to our Ankleshwar site in India
• Transferring production of "red products" to treat tuberculosis from Anagni, Italy, to Waltloo, South Africa

New industrial development center in India

Creating a new industrial development center in Goa, India, at the existing production site

Sanofi-aventis would like to be able to ensure one part of industrial product development for the entire Group at an industrial center in India. This project represents an investment of more than 15 million euros to construct a new building and to renovate an existing building. Upon completion, some 40 people will work at the center.  

Relocation of COMBIFLAM production to our Ankleshwar site in India

This operation involves relocating the production of several hundred million tablets to our own production site. Until recently, production and packaging of this product was outsourced to a sub-contractor in India.

Combiflam, a combination of ibuprofen and paracetamol, is used to treat pain and fever.
Relocating production to our site gives us better control over the quality and availability of the product and allows us to ensure that the management of production personnel is in line with Group values. In addition, internal production safeguards the site by ensuring its future activity.  

Transferring production of "red products" from Anagni, Italy, to Waltloo, South Africa

Producing all the Group's tuberculosis drugs at a single site in South Africa

Tuberculosis affects approximately 18 million people worldwide, including 500,000 in South Africa alone.
Sanofi-aventis produces rifampicin-based drugs to treat tuberculosis, called "red products" because of the color of their active ingredient. The two primary production sites are located in Waltloo, South Africa, and Anagni, Italy.  Waltloo represents approximately 55% of the Group's current production and Anagni 35%. In 2006, the Group decided to transfer all production from Anagni to Waltloo in the coming years. 

This transfer offers four advantages. It

• reduces production cost for one treatment by about 35%, so that treatment is accessible to as many patients as possible;
• adds to the site's existing expertise regarding tuberculosis products;
• safeguards the Waltloo site by increasing manufacturing activity;
• brings production closer to where the product is used.

Many different steps will be necessary to complete the transfer in order to:

• harmonize the various formulations existing today by country, thereby reducing their total number;
• oversee the industrial development of these formulations, most of which will be new for the Waltloo industrial tool;
• submit registration dossiers for the new formulations and the production processes for each country where the product will be marketed;
• obtain the corresponding authorizations before starting to manufacture the transferred products.

Accomplishing these various steps will naturally require the mobilization of considerable human and financial resources.