ICN Joins Team to Produce Medicine in Kazakhstan
COSTA MESA — ICN Pharmaceuticals Inc. is participating in a joint venture to convert a former Soviet biological warfare production plant in Kazakhstan into a drug-manufacturing factory.
ICN said it is teaming up with Allen & Associates International Ltd., a Washington-based business development company, to renovate the plant. ICN expects the facility will be operating by September and will initially employ 250 people.
The Kazakhstan project will be funded by a $2.7-million federal grant obtained by Allen & Associates, plus an additional $3.1-million investment by joint venture partners ICN and Allen, said John R. Howe, Allen’s chief executive. Howe said the partners’ individual contributions haven’t been determined.
Another partner in the venture, Biomedpreparat, is a former government agency in Kazakhstan that is now being privatized, Howe said. The agency, a center for the development of advanced biotechnology, will contribute facilities and equipment, he added.
The plant will produce vitamins and pharmaceutical products for Kazakhstan, a market with estimated sales volume of $600 million annually, according to ICN. The company said it hopes to gain a 10% share of the market in three to five years.
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