Pharma-Deko’s product variety shows R&D investment

Variety of pharmaceutical products manufactured by Pharma-Deko plc shows the drug maker’s high investment on research and development (R&D). High quality of products is also an indication of satisfactory efficiency level of its two plants located in Agbara, Ogun State, Real Sector Watch findings have revealed.

Unlike several pharmaceutical companies in the country without more than three well-known products, Pharma-Deko has a number of internationally-competitive products on its tray or gallery. While its Phardol Drops is used for the treatment of aches, pains and feverishness in babies, VitaCee remains a recent invention aimed at providing a nutritional supplement to prevent and treat Vitamin C deficiency in infants and children.

Pharmadec serves as a multivitamin, whereas Brett has been fashioned as an oral care product to fight dental problems and bad breath. The firm has three types of Parkalin: one is called Parkalin Chesty, an expectorant cough syrup, while the other is known as Parkalin Dry Cough, made with Codeine and used for the treatment of patients with dry cough. There is also Parkalin for children, known as Parkalin Pediatrics, used for the treatment of cough.

A product of Pharma-Deko known as Revitone Blood Tonic is good for blood enrichment; whereas Antasil is often recommended for the fast relief of heart burn, indigestion and gastric acid hyperacidity. There are other products such as Omepraz, Parkaprim, Hexedene and Salin, which serve different health purposes. The company also has Sans Cream Soda, which is s carbonated, sweet, low calorie, sugar-free, non-alcoholic creamy tasting soda drink.

“We have in-house capabilities to develop products from scratch. The R&D unit is an integral part of the company, saddled with the task of discovering new products and ways to treat diseases, sicknesses and pleasurable healthy drinks to please our customers,’’ says the company on its website.

“Most of the healthcare and pharmaceutical solutions being developed have the potential to be first-of-its-kind or best-of-its-kind in their respective category,’’ the firm further states.

Real Sector Watch’s visit to its Plant I and II at Agbara, Ogun State, reveals optimal machines capacity and efforts towards rolling out many more products through its R&D department.

Findings have shown that many local drug firms are limited to few products owing to lower emphasis on R&D. In India, a pharmaceutical company known as Zydus Cadilla recently launched a new diabetes drug, Lipaglyn, through a heavy investment on R&D. Currently, the firm annual revenues is $1 billion from less than half of this revenue in the two years before, according to New Statesman, a local newspaper.

Norvatis, Glenmark and Biocon, three drug makers in India, are also investing hugely in R&D. Analysts have stressed that for most Nigerian firms to get the World Health Organisation (WHO) certification necessary for international competition, they have to investment in R&D.

“If you do not have pre-qualification, you cannot be competitive,’’ says Azubuike Okwor, immediate past president, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) in an interview with BusinessDay.

Pharma-Deko’s reward for R&D has come, as the firm’s first quarter 2014 revenue rose 17 percent year-on-year to N305.4 million, from N260.4 million recorded in the corresponding period of 2013.