World-standard insulin to be made in Bangladesh
Lise Kingo, executive vice president and chief of staff of Novo Nordisk, speaks to The Daily Star at Dhaka Sheraton Hotel yesterday. Prof AK Azad Khan, left, Bangladesh Diabetic Association president; Jesper Høiland, second from right, senior vice president of Novo Nordisk, and Sanjeev Shishoo, extreme right, vice president for Oceania and South East Asia, are also seen. Photo: shawkat jamil
It was two hours before midnight. An aged woman, arms clasped and covered by a chador against cold, slowly entered a thinly crowded drug store. She gripped a vial as she approached the salesperson.
The store assistant appeared to be familiar with the woman, who handed a vial and syringe, and asked him to push inject her right arm. It is filled with insulin, named Mixtard 30, made by Novo Nordisk.
To date, this insulin brand, Mixtard, comes from Denmark, the base of Novo Nordisk, the global leader in diabetes care. But within a year, no import of such insulin from the Scandinavian country will be required.
The drug will be made at Tongi near Dhaka thanks to a tie-up between the world's biggest insulin maker Novo Nordisk and Eskayef Bangladesh Ltd, a leading local pharmaceutical company.
The partnership deal, signed in 2009, has facilitated establishment of a hi-tech plant to make these sophisticated biotechnological products here.
The Nordisk-Eskayef plant opens today to manufacture over 5 million vials a year, maintaining the high quality standards followed by Novo Nordisk across the world.
"We've one global standard. So everywhere you will have insulin of exactly the same standard," said Lise Kingo, executive vice president and chief of staff of Novo Nordisk.
Kingo shared his view in an interview with The Daily Star at Dhaka Sheraton Hotel yesterday.
Senior Vice President of International Operations Jesper Hoiland, Vice President for Oceania and South East Asia Sanjeev Shishoo and Bangladesh Diabetic Association President Prof AK Azad Khan were also present.
Novo Nordisk officials are in Dhaka to attend the inauguration of the insulin making plant.
They expressed confidence that Eskayef backed by a leading business conglomerate, Transcom Group, would be able to make quality insulin here as per the global standard.
"We're very pleased that we've partnered with Eskayef. Transcom is behind it. It's (Trancom) a very professionally run company that is working in many different areas and we feel very comfortable that we've found the right partner for this collaboration," Jesper Hoiland said.
"And we've so far done very fine and lived up to our expectation," he added.
The groundwork for the tie-up began four years ago. Novo Nordisk and Eskayef inked the deal in November of 2009, after global diabetic care giant became confident that the Bangladeshi company would be able to make quality insulin by following the single global standard of Novo Nordisk.
The plant, one of the three in Asia after China and India, is going to be opened at a time when nearly 6 million Bangla-deshis suffer from diabetes. The number is expected to cross 10 million in the next 20 years due to changes in lifestyle, rapid urbanisation, lack of work and obesity and ageing of people.
At present, some 20 percent of the diabetic patients get care through the network of the diabetic association, with which Novo Nordisk also partners in educating health care professionals and creating public awareness about the disease.
Such partnership has not only helped create awareness and educate healthcare professionals but also allowed Novo Nordisk to record high demand for its products.
The company enjoys more than 80 percent share in the insulin segment of diabetic care market in Bangladesh.
Kingo said the plant in Bangladesh will increase the availability of its products on the local market.
Besides, the plant will also help leverage the expertise of local population, transfer technology and benefit society.
Shishoo said the establishment of the manufacturing base in partnership with Eskayef shows Novo Nordisk's confidence in Bangladesh.
"It's a tremendous sign of confidence. We're very selective about the countries where we start production," he said.
"It's not a normal 24-hour routine, but it's also a confidence in our partners like Eskayef that we can set up a world-class plant which can deliver the insulin of the highest quality."
Jesper Hoiland said the factory in Dhaka would also have an impact on the work force.
"It will have impact on society," he said, pointing out that Bangladesh is one of the countries that handle well the issues of diabetes caring.
"I'm always using Bangladesh as a role model because you've really done a world class job of looking after patients with diabetes," said Hoiland, pointing to the network and care solutions provided by Bangladesh Diabetic Association.
Kingo said he admired Bangladesh's effort for diabetes care and said Novo Nordisk has been working for many years educating doctors and nurses how to treat people with diabetes.
The 87-year-old Novo Nordisk, which has been operating in Bangladesh since 1972, also supports BADAS to provide care to underprivileged children with diabetes.
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