Boryung Pharmaceuticals said Friday it signed an exclusive $37.7-million supply contract with South African pharmaceutical company Kiara Health to provide its high-blood pressure drugs to 10 African countries.

The deal comes as a new addition to the company’s list of license-out contracts in a total of 51 countries amounting to $413.6 million. Boryung signed an export agreement with Kiara Health in December to supply three of its injectable anticancer drugs in the same 10 African countries.

With the agreement, Boryung will supply Kanarb and Kanarb Plus (compound: fimasartan) to South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Tanzania, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Rwanda, and Kenya for seven years.

The African pharmaceutical market is expected to grow to $45 billion by 2020, with an annual growth of 10.6 percent, or $18 billion, according to IMS Health.

Kiara Health is a leading African pharmaceutical distributor with 16 branches throughout the continent.

"We will now advance to pharmerging markets by entering into growing African markets as an addition to our presence in Latin America, Russia, China, and Southeast Asia," said Boryung CEO Choi Tae-hong. “Once Kanarb prescriptions begin in Russia and Singapore this year, we will concentrate all our efforts on building the company’s global performance based on our drugs’ excellent clinical value."

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