Punjab Chief Minister Main Shahbaz Sharif and Argentine Ambassador to Pakistan Rodolfo Martin Saravia inaugurated the new corporate office of the bio-pharmaceutical company BF Bioscience, the first joint venture of Argentina and Pakistan, at Sunder Road, Raiwind, Lahore on Friday. It will create jobs for our employed youth.
BF Bioscience is a joint venture of Ferozsons Laboratories Pakistan Ltd and Bago Group of Argentine, is Pakistan’s first biotech pharmaceutical company and manufacturer of medicines to treat Hepatitis C and cancer patients. These drugs were previously being imported into Pakistan from other countries of the world and were around three times costly. The company has been established with a total investment of Rs 1 billion. It will also help reduce impot bill and precious foreign exchange of the nation which is badly needed at this time.
In his remarks, Ambassador Martin-Saravia said that this award is given to meritorious foreigners for their service to the Argentine nation and to pay homage to the founding fathers, who began the Independence Revolution in the month of May of 1810. Referring to Osman s entrepreneurial skills, the ambassador said that Osman has provided an excellent platform for Argentine capital to blossom in a new business environment by creating the first joint venture between Argentina and Pakistan.
With dedication and teamwork, he has led the new company from inception to creation, to production and to expansion, he said. He has demonstrated his commitment with his country and his trust in the potential of Pakistan and its people. Far from remaining in the realm of business, Osman has also been a patron of the arts by helping the Argentine embassy in organizing exhibitions of Argentine artists in Islamabad and Lahore. He has also provided meritorious service to his fellow countrymen - specially those most sick and in need - as a true humanitarian, channelling generous donations of medicines to the PIMS hospital, to several healthcare institutions around the country and to the displaced of the earthquake of 2005.
In conclusion, Ambassador Martin Saravia expressed his pleasure that this year Argentina and Pakistan are celebrating the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations. With the wish that both countries would keep working together to further develop bilateral relations, he then presented the award to the recipient.amid well deserved applause.
Expressing his gratitude to the Argentine government; his Argentine partner, Laboratorios Bago and especially to the ambassador for his unflinching support, not only to their project but to the cause of investment in Pakistan, Osman said the envoy is as much a brand ambassador for Pakistan as he is for his own country. He went on to say it was a much greater honour than he deserved for his modest contribution towards the economic relations between the two great countries and it had been a privilege to work with the ambassador and to have partnered with one of the finest, most reputable business families of the country.
Speaking on this occasion he said that through this initiative, cheap treatment will be available to the patients of hepatitis, cancer and diabetes. Chief Minister said that a lab of international standard has been established in collaboration with Argentine and Feroze Sons Laboratories and it is a good example of partnership between the two countries. A joint venture between Feroze sons Laboratories Limited and the Bago Group of Argentina, BF Biosciences Limited manufactures biological drugs to treat Hepatitis C and Cancer. Fully USFDA complaint, the company’s manufacturing facility produces drugs that were previously only being imported into Pakistan. The company’s CEO, Osman Khalid Waheed said that the company is further reducing the cost of a six month treatment in Hepatitis C treatment to around Rs.100,000.
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