Now Square gets approval to ship medicines to Congo

Square Pharmaceuticals has received the good manufacturing practices certificate from Congo, joining a growing list of medicine exporters from Bangladesh looking to make inroads into the African continent.

Last month, Apex Pharma received the same certification, which came from the Directorate of Pharmacy & Medicine under the public health ministry of Congo.

Although Bangladesh has long been exporting pharmaceutical products to many countries of the world, the African continent eluded the local drug makers.

This certificate will open the door for the local medicine-maker to export pharmaceutical products to 11 central African countries as well.

Ziauddin Adil and Nazir Alam, designated honorary consuls of the Bangladesh Consulate of the Democratic Republic of Congo, handed over the certificate to Tapan Chowdhury, managing director of Square Pharmaceuticals, in Dhaka recently.

Set up in 1958, Square Pharmaceuticals is the largest pharmaceutical company in Bangladesh, a position it has held among all national and multinational companies since 1985.

The turnover of Square Pharma was Tk 5,087 crore with about 16.95 per cent market share and a growth rate of about 10.85 per cent in the last fiscal year.

It pioneered exports of medicines from Bangladesh in 1987 and has been selling antibiotics and other pharmaceutical products in 42 countries, according to the company's website.

It has received approvals to export products to the US, the UK and Australia.

Listed on the Dhaka Stock Exchange, the company's shares closed 6.6 per cent lower at Tk 173.30 yesterday, as fears of coronavirus outbreak hit the stock market hard.

Bangladesh's earning from pharmaceuticals exports rose 25.60 per cent to $129.95 million in the last fiscal year, according to the Export Promotion Bureau. 

Pharma exports grew 7.23 per cent to $96.72 million in the first eight months of the fiscal year. The government has targeted to earn $169.59 million in pharmaceuticals exports in fiscal 2019-20.

Bangladesh exports pharma products to about 150 countries and caters to 97 percent of the domestic market.

Syed Afzal Hasan Uddin, independent director of Square Pharmaceuticals, and Prosenjit Chakraborty, general manager for international marketing and business development, were present at the certificate awarding ceremony.