Cipla Medpro South Africa Ltd commences trading

Monday, 17 November 2008:  The Enaleni Pharmaceuticals Limited group today changed its name to Cipla Medpro South Africa Limited. The name change was approved by shareholders at the group's AGM on 24 July and the group commenced trading under the new name this morning.

Group CEO Jerome Smith said the new name better reflects the group's positioning in the pharmaceutical industry. "The group has undergone significant positive changes in the past 12 months, from a change in management, the relocation of the head office function to Cape Town, to the near-completion of R195 million upgrade to its Durban-based manufacturing facility, which recently received Medicines Control Council approval.  

"In light of the fact that the Cipla name is a well established and trusted brand within the healthcare industry, the Board's opinion was that it made sense to rename the Group to create clearer synergy and association between the listed entity and its two wholly-owned subsidiaries - Cipla Medpro (Pty) Ltd and Cipla Medpro Manufacturing (Pty) Ltd." 

"The additional benefit is the association with the highly respected international name of Cipla India - the largest standalone generics business in the world and  recently ranked by Scrip magazine amongst the world's leading pharmaceutical corporations and a top 12 company on production volumes,' added Smith. "Cipla Medpro has for many years enjoyed a strong relationship and exceptional product pipeline from Cipla whose facilities in India are accredited by organizations such as the FDA and WHO."

Chairman S'bu Luthuli said the name change could be regarded as a 'coming of age' for the nearly 6 year old group. "The group has certainly come a long way since it was founded. That said, our focus on the provision of affordable healthcare has never wavered and with the Cipla Medpro name highly regarded as a champion for the provision of world class, affordable medicines, that remains a group ethos."

Cipla Medpro South Africa Limited will trade under the abbreviated name 'CIPLAMED' and share code 'CMP' in the JSE's Healthcare: Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology sector.