DUBLIN, IRELAND and JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA — (Marketwired) — 10/12/15 — Serenus Biotherapeutics, which is bridging the divide between the world’s leading healthcare markets and the growing demand for access to innovative drugs and devices in the emerging nations of Africa, today announced the opening of an East African regional office in Nairobi, Kenya.
A Kenyan base of operations reflects the importance of this market which represents the largest and most advanced economy in East and Central Africa. It is home to the largest market, a rapidly developing health sector, and a growing pharmaceutical market serving the entire East African region.
While the region suffers from a high incidence of infectious diseases, such as malaria, cholera, meningitis, and tuberculosis, there is an increasing burden of non-communicable diseases including cardiovascular, diabetes, respiratory, neurological diseases, and cancer among others. Serenus, which is working to accelerate access to quality and affordable drugs in Africa through partnerships with pharmaceutical companies in developed nations, selected Nairobi because of its proximity to a large population with an increasing demand for medicines to meet unmet medical needs in these areas.
“These new offices will expand our access to critical markets, allow us to better serve patient populations, and support our growth as late-stage drug development and commercial company,” said Dr. Menghis Bairu, CEO of Serenus. “It provides a central local in East Africa that will allow us to attract the people with the skills and talent we need as we build our company and expand our services into the fast growing East African region.”
The office will house a range of functions for the company including medical affairs, regulatory affairs, pharmacovigilance, legal, government affairs, and commercial teams.
The opening of the office follows Serenus’ rollout in Africa of the Xenex Germ-Zapping Robot through its partnership with Xenex Disinfection Services. The advanced ultraviolet (UV) disinfection robot is used by hospitals, outpatient surgery centers, and skilled nursing facilities to destroy contagious superbugs on surfaces that can cause hospital-acquired infections (HAIs). The robot’s use of high-intensity pulsed xenon UV light enables it to work quickly and efficiently throughout healthcare facilities and disinfect dozens of rooms per day.
Serenus’s new offices with be located at the Apollo Centre, Ring Road Parklands, Westland, Nairobi Kenya.
About Serenus Biotherapeutics
Serenus Biotherapeutics is a privately held healthcare company that specialises in late-stage drug development, in-licensing, registering, and commercialising drugs and devices approved in the United States, Europe, and Japan to address unmet medical needs with high regional prevalence in the Sub-Saharan African market. For more information, visit www.serenusbio.com
East Africa Community
The East African Community is comprised of five member states; Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda. The region has a total population of 145 million, a combined GDP of $ 148 billion, and is home to some of the fastest growing African economies. Member states of the East African Community have made significant strides in strengthening health systems, reforming health insurance, and moving towards the harmonisation of medicines regulation and the development of other health and pharmaceutical policies.