•Fidson aims for global honour
With a state-of-the-art biotech plant, Fidson Healthcare Plc, an indigenous company, is set to obtain the World Health Organisation (WHO) prequalification to join the league of global pharmaceutical players in bulk supply. OYEYEMI GBENGA-MUSTAPHA writes.
It aims to be a world leader in its field. Fidson Healthcare Plc has acquired 7.5 acres of land in Sango Otta, in Ogun State and a N7 billion bio-technology plant to realise its dream of playing in the big league in the pharmaceutical sector.
The biotech project machine cost the company N800 million, land and building, N200 million.
There are many reasons the company wants to ensure the success of the biotech plant. Majorly, it is to get the World Health Organisation (WHO) pre-qualification to take care of the needs of foreign pharmaceutical companies, which prefer to have their products made in Nigeria to enable them monitor the quality before distributing to other African countries.
During a media tour of the biotech plant, Fidson’s Operations Director Biola Adebayo said it would drive down prices of certain pharmaceutical products, which are in high demand and are overpriced.
But, this is not the first time Fidson has done that. The production of Virex Anti-retroviral for people living with HIV/AIDS, Adebayo said, was a huge success. “That feat made the company the first healthcare company in West Africa and in sub-Saharan Africa to produce an Anti-retroviral drug which has been certified effective and safe for use by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC),” he said.
He continued: “Virex is known to be the affordable anti-retroviral drug available in the Nigerian market. We drove the price down by more than 75 per cent because only one pharmaceutical company had the monopoly of supplying the antiretroviral drugs used by persons living with HIV/AIDS, until Fidson Healthcare commenced its manufacturing. Virex has the capacity to prevent transmission of HIV from mother to child as it comes in five variants for children and adults. “This breakthrough in the production of anti-retroviral drug is the inspiration behind our resolve to put our arsenal together to obtain the WHO-prequalification and with that the beginning of many good things to come from the company.”
Part of the goals the biotech plant will achieve is to also beat down the cost of infusion Adebayo said: “We have conducted a research and found that upon admission, patients always would require infusion, otherwise called drip so as to prevent their system from shutting down. Currently such are being manufactured by a few companies.
“About five per cent of the Nigerian population; representing those who are in the hospital, use the infusion. As such, the demand is very high and more than the supply. With our new biotech plant, we intend to break this monopoly by injecting standards into the production, as well as driving down the price to make it more affordable, just like with the antiretroviral. Our corner piece on production is based on meeting three basic needs of affordability, availability and accessibility.”
“Another goal the biotech plant is set to meet is reversing the trend of importing 60 per cent of its products while the company produces the remaining 40 per cent locally. We intend to reverse this trend by 2015, by manufacturing 60 per cent of our drugs locally and sourcing the remainder through importation. Indirectly, we would be creating job opportunities. Next to agriculture, manufacturing is the second largest employer of labour; hence, by increasing local manufacturing, Fidson Healthcare will make more jobs available to Nigerians, while it will also be seen as being in tune with the transformation agenda of the government,” said Adebayo.
Already the plant has started attracting some multinational interests, as leading multinational pharmaceutical companies that command global attention have started visiting it to inspect and discuss areas of interest and collaborations.
Adebayo threw more light on this: “Some big global players in the pharmaceutical industry that once dominated Nigerian, West Africa and sub African markets, but left the nation’s shores have started contacting us. They are not interested in providing motorable roads, light and the likes for our company. Their sole interest is to see how we can manufacture their products for them bearing in mind the standard of quality of such products.
“Sanofi from France sent a team to us. The head of the delegation was overwhelmed by what he saw here. The team recommended us and already the company has sent a list of some of their drugs, which we can help produce, to us. We at the stage of fine-tuning cost of pricing, packaging and delivery. So also is Glaxo among others. A lot of those companies are coming back to West Africa because of this Biotech plant,” he said.
He continued: “They want to be spared the headache of setting up a manufacturing plant, tied with its running cost. They only want to produce. So this plant is okay for them. Samples have been taken from our array of products both in the pharmaceutical and fast moving household products as anti-infective, anti-arthritis, endocrinology, gastro-intestine, anti-retroviral, anti-malaria, cardiovascular, anti-depressant, pain relievers, haematinics, cough expectorants and consumer goods, for analyses by some of these multinationals and we got a pass mark, when their results were compared with ours.”
Adebayo said though it had been a painstaking effort, based on interest, “since the time we visited WHO to indicate our interest in obtaining its prequalification, it gave us insight on how it works”. “That the organisation is run on donour fund and strictly work on what are budgeted for. So, when we invited it to come and inspect this plant, we were told there was no fund for such. NAFDAC stepped in and said it will pay for logistics. NAFDAC went ahead to task some other companies to ginger up for WHO pre-qualification. So that when the team visits, it would be able to inspect all of us at once.
“The Consultants came and we passed all-documentation, production, but for facility. We are now under the radar of WHO. And that is why we are intensifying effort to get the facility completed and functional to international standard. Facility carries about 20 per cent of the mark. The others are based on processes, documentation and system, areas which we are,” he said.
He added: “We are now putting this structure, which WHO prescribed. We are now number three on the radar watch of WHO in Nigeria. Our production lines are: infusion; tablets, injectables and intravenous fluids lines. Most of these lines are automatic, no human involvement, to eliminate contamination. Fidson wants to make Nigeria proud because it has paid its dues to all these international donour agencies. Yet Nigeria economy hardly benefits from such. By obtaining this prequalification, Nigeria would reap its reward, economically, in foreign exchange (Forex), because every year, billions of US dollars worth of medicines are purchased by international procurement agencies for distribution in resource-limited countries.”
Prequalification, he said: is intended to give these agencies the choice of a wide range of quality medicines for bulk purchase. “So, should an indigenous company obtain such qualification the country would be far better for it,” he said.
The Lead Consultant, of the plant, Mr More Rangnath said WHO prequalification of medicines is a service provided by WHO to assess the quality, safety and efficacy of medicinal products. “I had been involved in setting up most of the plants that obtain that prequalification and this is no exemption in term of standard,” he said.
