Active Fine steps into global API market
Active Fine Chemicals Ltd, a chemical reagent and active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) maker, has stepped into the global market by exporting antibiotic to Vietnam.
The company officials said they have exported 100 kilograms of “erythromycin ethylsuccinet”, an antibiotic, to the Southeast Asian nation in its first consignment.
They claimed Active Fine is the first Bangladeshi company to export API.
An API is a substance in a pharmaceutical drug or a pesticide that is biologically active. It is a raw material for finished drugs or medicines.
“Talks with another Vietnamese medicine importer is in the final stage,” Saifur Rahman, managing director of Active Fine, said adding that an Australian medicine importer has also shown interest to import API from Active Fine.
API export is easier than exporting finished medicine products and high value addition is possible through API export, he said.
There are about 250 licensed drug makers in Bangladesh, but only a few produce API on a limited scale, and none of them are involved in API exports yet.
The pharmaceutical sector meets almost 97 percent of local demand for medicine, while local drug makers produce only 5-7 percent of the total API requirements in Bangladesh. The rest or bulk volume of API is imported especially from India and China, which are leaders in world API exports.
If the market size of finished drugs is worth about Tk 8,000 crore, the size of the API sector will be Tk 3,500 crore to Tk 4,000 crore, according to industry insiders.
“In this situation, it is possible for us to export API, as we are maintaining high quality and offering a competitive price than other global exporters,” said Rahman.
“We are increasing our production capacity, by quantity and category, to match with the huge demand for API from both local and international manufacturers,” he added.
Seeing enormous potential in API related business, Active Fine started commercial production in 2009 and aims to be a leader in API manufacturing in Bangladesh.
Active Fine, a listed company, is also performing well in the stockmarket. Against the face value of Tk 10, each of the company's share closed at Tk 77.6 on the Dhaka Stock Exchange yesterday.
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