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Contact:
Claudia Monlouis
Monday, April 18, 2005 - The Government of Saint Lucia is considering a
unique proposal for the island to become a main provider of pharmaceutical
products and a training ground in pharmaceuticals for professionals in the
Caribbean. The proposal to develop the pharmaceutical sector has come from the
Toronto Institute of Pharmaceutical Technology (TIPT) whose representatives
visited the island to dialogue with government on the feasibility of
establishing the two-fold project which promises to expand the educational and
employment opportunities available to the general public.
Chief Executive Officer of the Toronto Institute of Pharmaceutical Technology
Dr. Alexander McGregor on Wednesday April 13th, made a presentation of his
proposal to several concerned parties including the Managing Director of the
OECS Pharmaceutical Procurement Service of the OECS Mr. Francis Burnett.
He says if given the political green light the island should be able to boast of
a reputable pharmaceutical plant and a training institute in some 18 to 24
months time. He says the initiative stands to lower the high cost of procuring
pharmaceutical drugs including HIV/AIDS medication, for OECS states.
“St. Lucia would have access to these drugs through the methods that we have put
in place, to allow the transfer of intellectual value from those countries that
have already developed those products and already have technologies in those
products. Therefore access to these drugs will be a lot easier.”
At this point says Dr. McGregor, he is optimistic that the governments of the
sub- region will all come on board and tap into the vast potential of the
proposal which intends to serve the Caribbean as a whole.
“To put a dollar value on all the phases together we’re talking about almost a
one hundred million dollar business that we’re trying to introduce to St. Lucia
and I anticipate that 50 to 60 percent of that will come from private
investors.”
According to Dr. McGregor if approved, the first phase of the project will
entail the establishment of the post graduate institute. This institute, he says
should attract students from the entire world. He says a generic pharmaceutical
“assembly only” manufacturing plant will be set up shortly after.
While on the island Dr. McGregor and his team took time out to conduct some
preliminary research to ascertain the status of the local pharmaceutical sector.
According to Dr. McGregor, although there is limited infrastructure; in many
cases starting a project from scratch facilitates the inculcation of best
practices from the very beginning.
“The pharmaceutical sector is somewhat fragmented; it’s mostly a procurement
system where you’re importing pharmaceuticals. You don’t have a manufacturing
base and a lot more can be done in regard to regulations and compliance. So
we’re offering a lot of ideas and initiatives to elevate the standards which
building a pharmaceutical industry.”
Meanwhile the Ministry of External Affairs says the recent repositioning of St.
Lucia’s foreign offices to focus more on developmental activities have begun to
yield the desired outcomes. Minister for External Affairs, International Trade
and Civil Aviation, Senator Honourable Petrus Compton says the country’s
overseas offices now share responsibility for attracting economic opportunities
to the island.
Only this week the Ministry of External Affairs International Trade and Civil
Aviation hosted several prospective investors from Canada. Among them were
representatives from the Toronto Institute of Pharmaceutical Technology (TIPT)
who were on the island to explore the possibility of establishing a $100,000.000
pharmaceutical school and assembly plant. Minister Compton says St. Lucia’s
consulate in Toronto, Canada was the point of initial contact for Dr. Alexander
McGregor, Chief Executive Officer of the Toronto Institute of Pharmaceutical
Technology and the main proponent of the proposal.
“When I visited Canada our Consul General Mr. Joshua had arranged a series of
meetings with a number of persons for me who were interested in investing in St.
Lucia , persons who were interested in seeing what opportunities there were in
St. Lucia for their particular enterprises and Dr. McGregor was one of the
persons whom I met. I had an opportunity to visit his laboratory and the
training facility and I came away very impressed with the work he was doing and
saw a lot of wonderful opportunity for us here in St. Lucia.”
The Minister says although the Ministry of External Affairs is not directly
responsible for managing development, its offices serve as a very strategic
liaison between St. Lucia and oversees based entrepreneurs and investors.
“Because we have connections with all of the governments with which we have
diplomatic links, we have offices all over the world where we don’t have offices
we have representation in the form of Honorary Consuls we are ideally placed to
tap into possibilities to tap into investments for St. Lucia more than any other
body so where NDC can go we already are.”
According to Mr. Compton the Ministry would then hand the process over to the
relevant government entities for continued dialogue.
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