Global pharmaceutical sets base in Kenya, targets health innovation

Global pharmaceutical firm, Johnson and Johnson, has now set up a local hub that it will use for its regional operations, the third such office in Africa after those set up in South Africa and Ghana.

Country Manager, Vitorrio Sereni, says the base in Nairobi’s Hurlingham area will enable the pharmaceutical firm focus on key diseases affecting the country and East African region at large.

Jaak Peters, Global Head of the firm’s Global Public Health, has intimated Johnson and Johnson’s key aim of setting the regional base in Kenya is to pay special focus to innovation and new medicines that will deal with infectious diseases, HIV treatment and prophylaxis, treatment of Multi-Drug Resistant Tuberculosis, maternal and infant health as well as preparedness for pandemics.

“Our company has also developed an Ebola vaccine at the moment for the crisis that took place in West Africa and we are also preparing new vaccines for future outbreaks of potential pathogens,” Peter opined.

According to him, the global pharmaceutical giant is currently stocking three million doses of Ebola vaccine ready for emergency use and is working Inactivated Polio Vaccine (IPV), while HIV vaccine is in Phase 2B of trial to prove its efficacy and he has expressed confidence the clinical trials will succeed.

Jane Griffiths, the firm’s Company Group Chairman for Europe, Middle East and Africa, says the country’s relative political stability, opportunity for growth and the government’s efforts to improve healthcare has also played a role in their choice of Kenya as the operations gateway to the region.

“Because we need to work closely with governments rather than just coming in as a company and acting independently,” She said.

“For 30 to 40 years we have been developing new medicines but also trying to work with countries to de-stigmatize mental illness because it’s something that holds a huge amount of stigma and frankly speaking many people are not well treated and cared for. And that’s something we’d really like to work with the government on,” Griffiths added.

Johnson and Johnson has a history with the African continent dating back 86 years and currently has more than 1,500 employees and three manufacturing sites.