Switzerland's Lonza involvement in South Africa pharma project in doubt

The South Africa government is expected to publish a request for information from potential international, domestic technology and investment partners on Friday for its pharmaceutical company after Swiss drugmaker Lonza (SIX: LONN) pulled out of a collaboration, reports Ventures Africa. The state-owned pharmaceutical company will manufacture key ingredients for AIDS drugs.

Business Day (SA) reported on Friday that the Department of Science and Technology’s director general, Phil Mjwara, said the withdrawal would delay the Ketlaphela project, but that many South African companies were interested.

The newspaper quoted Mr Mjwara as saying the Lonza wanted to use the company’s resources in “other” areas. However, Lonza spokesperson Dominik Werner denied the allegations, telling Business Day that the withdrawal was because of commercial reasons."It is correct that we are not talking about direct investments any more for commercial reasons following our Focus & Deliver initiative,” Mr Werner said, adding: “Lonza… continues to be interested in providing engineering expertise and services on a consulting basis.”