Kumar Bahukhandi
Akums, a leading player in pharmaceutical manufacturing, and The Government of The Republic of Zambia (GRZ), have announced a partnership to set up a manufacturing facility in Zambia to provide high quality and affordable generic medicines for patients in Zambia.
The partnership will involve setting up a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Zambia to manufacture and supply medicines in Zambia. The JV also, in the future, will export to neighboring African countries like Zimbabwe, Namibia, Botswana, Malawi, Tanzania, Mozambique etc.
The manufacturing facility will be housed in a newly formed Joint venture company (JV), which will be headquartered in Zambia. Akums will hold 51% while GRZ, though its nominated state instrumentality, will hold 49% in this joint venture. The JV will be managed by a Board with representatives from both partners. The JV is expected to be established by Q3 FY 26, post which the construction of facility will begin.
Commercial supplies from the facility are expected to begin in Q3 FY 28, subject to timely establishment of the facility and regulatory approvals for the facility and products. The facility will manufacture tablets, hard gelatin capsules, liquids, injectables as well as beta-lactam products. Both partners will contribute in the establishment and operationalization of the facility in ratio of their shareholding.
To fulfill the current national healthcare needs, the Govt. of Zambia has also committed to purchase essential medicines from Akums’ facilities in India to Zambia. The supply will be of minimum USD 25 million annually in calendar years 2026 and 2027.
Zambia is one of the fastest growing economies in Africa with GDP growth being expected at over 6% in 2025. Zambia’s pharma market is projected to expand by over 10%+ annually over the next 5 years and surpass USD 300 million by 2030. Currently over 75% of Zambia’s essential medicines are imported and this partnership will allow the country to move towards self-reliance in healthcare and reduce import dependency. Additionally, the partnership holds export potential to other African nations, particularly SADC countries, with a combined population of over 450 million and a fast-growing pharmaceutical market.
“We are proud to partner with GRZ to deliver high quality, affordable medicines manufacturing for Zambian healthcare system. This is our first manufacturing partnership outside India and aligns with vision of becoming a global CMDO,” said Mr. Sanjeev Jain, Managing Director at Akums.
About Akums
Akums Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Limited, is the largest India-focused contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO). It has 11 manufacturing facilities in India for its CDMO formulation business and two manufacturing units for its API manufacturing business. Akums manufactures over 4,000 formulations across 60+ dosage forms. It has 4 state-of-the-art R&D centers, with over 1,000 DCGI approvals and 250+ first time in India approvals.
