HEALTH

Diabetes : 20 million doses of insulin produced annually in Tizi-Ouzou

ALGIERS – The Tizi-Ouzou-based insulin plant operated by Novo Nordisk Algeria annually produces 20 million units of insulin, representative Karim Djerroud said on Friday in Algiers, welcoming the "pioneering" approach launched nearly 30 years ago by this international pharmaceutical company.

"The plant of Novo Nordisk Algérie in Tizi-Ouzou is activating for 20 years and produces 20 million insulin doses per year," the Danish laboratory's manager for Public Affairs and Market Access told APS, on the sidelines of the celebration of the insulin one-hundred year anniversary.

The Tizi-Ouzou plant employs 234 staff.

Through the plants in Tizi-Ouzou (105 km east of Algiers) and Boufarik (Blida 50 km west of Algiers), designed to manufacture insulin in pre-filled injection, Algeria is the "only country in the world to possess a solid industrial tool," he said while underlining the "pioneering" approach launched nearly 30 years ago by this international pharmaceutical company.

The public authorities have initiated "partnership programmes" like the creation, ten years ago, of the "Mobile Clinic" in Algiers, dedicated to diabetes and unknown diabetes pres-screening as well as the setting up of "barometers designed to manage Algerian data on diabetes," he said.

According to Djerroud, the objective is to "enable the public authorities exploit the national statistics in elaborating suitable care policy in Algeria," adding that "Novo Nordisk has supplied therapeutic innovations."