The UAE's top pharmaceutical company seeks to take on the mighty US market after having received approval to distribute and sell its products in Germany. Gulf Pharmaceutical Industries, better known as Julphar, announced it has established a US-based office to obtain food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for its products in the American market.
The approval certificate from the German authorities followed the visit of a German Ministry of Health delegation to Julphar during which, the company said, it reviewed the production process and reported that its products met the specifications required for distribution in Germany.
"The certificate came as a culmination of a Julphar effort of more than seven years to reach global markets," managing director Abdul Razak Yousuf observed.
"The plan aimed at modernising the company's factories according to rigid drug industry requirements, upgrading equipment and introducing computer systems at the various stages of manufacture." Yusuf added that the company sought US approval for its Factory II, which specialises in making syringes and antibiotics.
The German certificate follows great strides the company has made in the past several years with some of its production coming from its overseas plants. The Julphar group comprises five factories, three of them in Ras Al Khaimah, one in Equador (South America) and one in Germany with sales exceeding Dh 500 million in markets stretched across 40 countries and four continents. It has plans to open a sixth plant in the UAE with an investment of about $300 million.
As well as pharmaceuticals, Julphar boasts of several wholly owned affiliates that provide it with support services. These include a Gulf-wide infrastructure of distribution and warehousing, pharmacy management, a state-of-the-art printing and packaging house, a plastic dosing cup and aluminium pilfer-proof manufacturing unit and an environment-controlled transportation fleet.
"The success of Julphar is based on its world-class quality, human resource development and innovative planning and strategic alliances worldwide," said chairman Shaikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qassimi.
Of the three plants located in the UAE, Julphar I is dedicated to oral and topical products with a capacity of over 1 billion tablets, 300 million capsules, 45 million bottles of syrups and suspensions, 12 million bottles of drops, 10 million tubes of ointment and creams and 50 million suppositories.
Julphar II makes injectable products including a highly specialised line of lyophilized products. The first of its kind in the Middle East, the factory meets and exceeds all regulatory requirements of cGMP (Current Good Manufacturing Practices). It can manufacture 15 million ampoules, 18 million vials, 8 million lyophilised vials and 6 million pre-filled syringes.
The third UAE plant, Julphar III manufactures over-the-counter and consumer products. The fourth plant, in Quito, Equador, manufactures oral dosage forms and supplies company products to all the South American markets. The fifth plant in Eschewge, Germany, is certified according to EU guidelines and makes a variety of products for the European market.
Julphar's output include analgesic, antipyretic, anti-inflammatory and antirheumatic drugs, muscle relaxants, antacids, antiflatulent, antianginal and antihypertensive products and antibiotics.
The list also includes antiprotozoal, antidiabetic, insulin, anticold, antidiarrheal, antiemetic, and antiviral products along with antifungal, tissue-healing, antihistaminic and antispasmodic drugs.
Also produced are pharmaceuticals in the antipeptic ulcer, expectorant, antitussive, bronchodilator, mucolytic, corticosteroids, hypolipidemic, laxative, nasal decongestant, sedative, tranquilizer, throat antiseptic and vitamins categories.
Julphar maintains that demand for its products is "rapidly accelerating" while acknowledging that the main challenge is "maintaining a competitive edge in a market dominated by major multinational corporations".
The initiative to enter the US market, where overseas pharmaceutical corporations and US drug companies are in a frenzy of competition for a slice of the multibillion-dollar cake, is a testimony to the confidence it has in itself. The US market, easily the world's largest, accounts for 33 per cent of global drug consumption.
Julphar recently signed a contract with an American company to produce antibiotics in the form of syringes for the US market.
