SYDNEY, Australia, 23 November 2018 – One of Australia’s leading medicine manufacturers, Vitex Pharmaceuticals, has signed an agreement with the NSW Government for a state-of-the-art pharmaceutical training and research facility at the Western Sydney Aerotropolis.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the agreement with Vitex paves the way for the company to invest an initial $10 million in a 10,000 square metre facility to support about 100 jobs and train up to 200 students at a time.
“This is a significant investment in the Aerotropolis from a local company which shows Sydney’s Western City is well on track to become an economic powerhouse and create 200,000 jobs,” Ms Berejiklian said.
“With companies like Vitex on board, the vision for Western Sydney as one of the world’s best places to live, work and invest is growing clearer every day.”
Minister for Western Sydney Stuart Ayres said Vitex’s plans follow the opening of the company’s new $100 million manufacturing facility at Eastern Creek last year creating up to 420 jobs and 20 billion tablets and capsules per annum.
“Vitex is a proudly Australian owned company operated by the Chami family and is a classic Western Sydney business success story,” Mr Ayres said.
“It was started by Lebanese migrant Elie Chami and his son Aniss in 1989 and is now focused on becoming a leading global manufacturer of complementary medicines, a growing industry worth $4.9 billion in Australia alone last year.”
Minister for Trade and Industry Niall Blair said this decision would cement Vitex’s role as an industry leader and Western Sydney’s reputation as a world leader in complementary medicines manufacturing.
“Vitex’s products are made in Australia to the highest standards, and this underpins the booming international demand from countries like China,” Mr Blair said.
“The industry has a hard-earned international reputation for manufacturing quality and safe products, and Vitex’s investment will only strengthen this.”
Vitex Pharmaceuticals CEO Dr Aniss Chami said it is an exciting opportunity to be part of the new city being built from the ground up around a new airport.
“With the high demand from our export partners it is evident just how important the reputation of high quality Australian-made medicine is to consumers locally and around the world,” Dr Chami said.
“We take this responsibility seriously to ensure our industry continues to thrive into the future. The Institute will be the first in Australia to offer dedicated training in pharmaceutics and pharmaceutical process engineering, which is a current major skills-gap in our industry. In doing this we hope to not only raise the skills of our own people, but also contribute to raising the standard of the industry in Australia.”
Vitex is the latest in a growing line of companies signing on to take part in the Aerotropolis.
Northrop Grumman, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Hitachi, Sydney Markets and the university sector through the NUW Alliance and Western Sydney University are now all on board.
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