NSAWAM, GHANA - Africa focused pharmaceutical company, LaGray, today announced a partnership with the Rural Women Skills and Development Foundation (RWSDF) of Ghana.

Speaking at the annual graduation and fundraising event held at the foundation's vocational training center, Dr. Paul Lartey, CEO of LaGray, reiterated the importance of African rural women skills development and education to the alleviation of poverty on the continent, adding "the objective to empower women by imparting employable skills to young ladies from deprived backgrounds is one we must all support."

The company, according to Dr. Lartey, will make its pharmaceutical production facility available for the training of a selected number of students from the center. He further announced that, in addition to an on-the-spot cash donation at the function, LaGray will award annual scholarships to support two students at the foundation's vocational training center.

LaGray is building the first fully vertically integrated pharmaceutical company in West Africa, manufacturing both active pharmaceutical ingredients and finished dosage forms. The company, whose plant is located at Nsawam, Ghana, is focused on drugs for the treatment of malaria, HIV-AIDS, hypertension, tuberculosis and respiratory tract infections. LaGray is scheduled to go into production in the first quarter of 2007.

RWSDF is an NGO that provides training in vocational and technical skills, to women from the rural areas of Ghana. The NGO is largely supported by the German church organization Evangelischer Entwicklungdienst. RWSDF graduates 35 women annually, armed with marketable skills and entrepreneurial training.

LaGray

LaGray

Our vision is to provide the African continent with quality life saving medicines that are desperately needed at affordable prices by producing them locally and sustain ably. Our seamlessly integrated manufacturing; Starting from raw chemicals through active pharmaceutical ingredients to finished dosage forms, is the first of its kind in West Africa. Our facility is the first in sub-Saharan Africa to be purposely designed for vertically integrated pharmaceutical manufacturing. Our integrated approach enables timely access to critical medicines. Utilization of local labor and resources makes our drugs affordable and maintains our focus on local solutions to healthcare problems. We are tackling the major causes of mortality and morbidity in sub-Saharan Africa by manufacturing branded generic drugs against chloroquine-resistant malaria, respiratory tract infections, HIV-AIDS, cardiovascular disease and tuberculosis.

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