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By Job Osazuwa
One of the leading pharmaceutical companies in Nigeria, Biomedical Pharmaceuticals Limited, has celebrated 40 years of unwavering production of intravenous fluids.
Poised to continue to encourage local production despite being faced with daunting challenges, the company is also using the anniversary to unveil 22 new syrups just as it shared its legacy in the industry.
Speaking with journalists in Lagos, the chairman of the company, Mr. Idowu Obasa, said the story of Biomedical Limited was one in which the original visioner courageously stepped forward to break the circle of dependence on foreign pharmaceutical companies for drugs and other medicaments.
He said: “At a time when most medicines were being imported into the country and even those being produced in Nigeria were dominated by foreign multinationals, a courageous Nigerian ventured into manufacturing of intavenous fluids.”
Obasa said the anniversary offered him the opportunity to salute the courage of the originator, Dr. Farouk Abdulazeez, without whose dogged determination the feat attained by the firm would have been impossible.
He disclosed that all arrangements were already concluded for the launch of the company’s ultra-modern syrup factory located in Ilorin, Kwara State, on August 27.
Obasa stated that the syrup factory was made possible through the intervention of the Bank of Industry (BOI), which provided funding for the project.
He said Biomedical has, in its four decades of existence, focused on the production of infusions, but the company was now breaking out into other products, mainly syrups to be used as medications, with the aim of improving the quality of life.
He explained that: “Bank of Industry made this one possible. In spite of our general misgivings about the workings of Nigerian institutions, the BOI proved to be different, at least, as far as the syrup factory of Biomedical is concerned.
“They walked into the factory, offered to assist and went through the entire process clinically and professionally and, today, we are about to formally present 22 new syrups to the market, with more to come.”
Reinforcing the organisation’s commitment to providing more care options for Nigerians, Obasa said Biomedical was about to embark on mass de-worming of pupils across the country, as part of the company’s corporate social responsibility drive.
He said: “Perhaps, the most important aspect of this anniversary is the massive de-worming of school pupils across the country. We plan to deworm 400,000 children as a corporate social responsibility effort to mark this milestone.”
He further explained that deserving business partners whose continuous support has made the story of Biomedical worth telling would be recognized during the anniversary.
According to him, celebrating 40 years of existence as a pharmaceutical company may not amount to anything to certain persons but it served as a pressure valve that challenges the firm, constantly reminding the team to keep raising the standards and meeting them.
