Swaziland government, Vantage plan to construct pharmaceutical manufacturing facility

Jul 25 2011

Vantage Health (OTC:BB – ticker symbol VNTH), ("Vantage", "Company"), announced today that it has been invited by the Ministry of Health for the Kingdom of Swaziland to plan the construction of a pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in that country. Swaziland's Minister for Health, Mr. Benedict Xaba, reiterated in his letter to Vantage Health, that "…Should you expedite your interest, we will enter into off take agreements for the pharmaceuticals produced in the newly established Swaziland pharmaceutical plant." The Minister also confirmed that the Kingdom would assist Vantage and its technology partners "with all relevant regulatory required processes regarding the successful implementation of this most important project…".

Following Vantage's recent entrance into the Tanzanian healthcare space through its 51% ownership of Vantage Health Tanzania Limited, the Company intends to immediately establish an additional majority owned subsidiary in Kingdom of Swaziland, in line with its pan-African Plan for Expansion. In addition to the Company's intentions to construct a manufacturing/formulation facility, the Minister of Health indicated in his letter to Vantage his government's commitment to a BOOT ("Build, Own, Operate, Transfer") transaction with the Company and its local and technology partners to build a referral hospital in Swaziland.

Separately, it is the intention of Vantage to actively participate in additional government tenders for other essential medicines, medical supplies, medical equipment and consumables, certain of which qualify for external donor funding.

Dr. Lisa Ramakrishnan, President and CEO of Vantage Health, said: "Having only recently established our business models in South Africa and Tanzania, we are once again very excited to be planning the creation of a new healthcare entity in the Kingdom of Swaziland, with the support of that country's government. Many countries in sub-Saharan Africa have significant gaps in their healthcare infrastructure and citizens of these countries continue to suffer as a result of poor access to good quality healthcare. This is a problem that needs to be urgently addressed. We look forward to working with Minister Xaba and his team at the Swaziland Ministry of Health and others in the Swaziland private sector, to assist in providing solutions in the Swaziland healthcare space. Vantage's entrance into this market signals the fact that we will continue to expand both our footprint, and partnerships in sub Saharan Africa. As a new public company since February 2011, Vantage Health has the responsibility of utilizing a business model that it believes will return shareholder value at the earliest opportunity. It is my belief that the partnerships and presence we are creating on this continent at this exciting time in Africa's history are critical in terms of recognizing the 'first to market' imperative. In every location that we establish a new line of business, we seek to create an early revenue stream with the goal of significantly growing our top line sales on a consolidated basis, as well as achieving the necessary economies of scale that will also boost the future growth of our operating margins. I am often asked whether the countries with which we interact have the financial resources to underwrite pharmaceutical purchases and other healthcare related projects: It is important to note that certain African countries, although perhaps lacking the internal financial resources to fund healthcare development relative to the budgets of developed economies, are nonetheless able to access donor funding for the purchase of essential medicines and projects such as hospital construction. In the case of Tanzania, for example, the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare's budget for development programs in 2010/11 amounts to approximately US$287 million, with 35% of that total contributed by government and the balance from Donors, or development partners."