Homegrown medicines from Doré

Augetto Graig - Doré Pharmaceuticals is set to launch the first phase of its expansion and upgrading initiative at the Safari Court conference complex in Windhoek on Friday.

Doré is a fully Namibian-owned pharmaceutical manufacturer and distributor based in Windhoek’s Prosperita industrial area.

The business has grown since its inception in 1997, making a name for itself with a range of locally made condoms, including the Smile condom which it supplies exclusively to the Namibian government.

In 2016 the name was changed from Global Pharmaceutical Exchange to Doré Pharmaceuticals and the condom business was separated to continue under the care of sister company Commodity Exchange.

Since then, work on building a state-of-the-art pharmaceutical manufacturing plant has been continuing.

According to Doré’s industrial relations officer and human resource manager, Betranne Martiz, the plant meets the highest quality standards required by the European Union Good Manufacturing Practice (EU GMP) regulatory body and recently received its licence to manufacture.

It also has a GMP certification from the Namibia Medicines Regulatory Council (NMRC).

Regulatory pharmacist Durre Moodley says the company will supply diabetes drugs, blood-pressure medicine, painkillers, antibiotics and vitamins.

In future the product range will be expanded to include diuretics and respiratory drugs.

The company will supply the market with both scheduled and over-the-counter medicines, she says.

According to production pharmacist Diana Sheehama, local production of these essential drugs will naturally have a positive impact on the availability of medicines at local pharmacies.

“The tablets we target are essential drugs that the government needs,” says the chief financial officer for Doré Pharmaceuticals, Andrew Campbell.

N$100 million investment

According to director and owner John Maritz, once in full production the company will be able to supply all the medicines needed in the country within three months.

He says more than N$100 million has been invested in developing the company’s manufacturing capability since 2014.

With the latest blister-packaging machines, 300 blisters of essential drugs can be packaged per minute.

Averouz Maritz, who is responsible for research and development as well as new business at Doré, elaborates that phase one encompasses down-stream blister manufacturing of solid-dose medicines, commonly known as tablets.

By next year the company hopes to complete phase two, which will encompass the pressing of solid-dose tablets by compacting granules of source chemicals.

Phase three is planned for 2020 when they will take on granulation, entailing the mixing, sieving and granulating of bulk active pharmaceutical ingredients.

Scientific research

By 2030 Doré hopes to embark on phase four with the formulation of active pharmaceutical ingredients from scientific research and clinic trials done on plants and biological sources indigenous to Namibia.

As the company grows it intends to educate the public and communicate important information to those who use its medicines. Moodley explains that a colour-coded system will be used on Doré packaging to indicate which types of ailments the medicine is best used for.

“We will also be the first to have Braille on our packaging,” she said.

The expansion also brings new job opportunities. Already ten new pharmacists have been employed in positions related to quality control, research and development, regulatory oversight, administration, production and warehousing, as well as supply-chain control of distribution and receiving.

By the end of phase two they expect to employ 100 more general workers, depending on the volumes demanded. With phase three the workforce should increase to 150 and by phase four, 200 to 300 Namibians may find work in the budding pharmaceutical industry.