Haffkine to return to ’mankind’s service’

The state-run pharma major, known for its service to mankind credo and for supplying medicines at a nominal profit, will finally reopen its oral liquid division after a 4-year gap

Haffkine to return to 'mankind's service'

The state-run pharma major, known for its service to mankind credo and for supplying medicines at a nominal profit, will finally reopen its oral liquid division after a 4-year gap
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AFTER four long years, the state-owned Haffkine Bio Pharmaceutical Corporation Limited, known for supplying medicines to hospital at a nominal profit and at a price much lower than its competitors', is all set to restart its defunct facility in Parel.

Authorities said they would also open an outlet within the premises to sell the medicines to the end consumers at nominal prices

The oral liquid division of the 100-year-old facility was asked to stop production in 2007 by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as it had failed to follow the Goods Manufacturing Practices (GMP), which is a quality system covering the manufacture and testing of pharmaceutical dosage.

"We have upgraded the facility as per the existing GMP and the FDA is expected to inspect the facility within a fortnight. We will start production as soon as the inspection is over.

Our oral liquid division is known for its cough syrups and various other syrups, including those for de-worming and seasonal flu," said P R Sabde, director, Haffkine.

"Our aim is 'service to mankind' and we have always produced quality medicines and sold them on a minimum-profit basis. We are also planning to open an outlet within the Parel premises to sell the medicines we produce directly to the end consumers," said Subhash Shankarwar, general manager (production), Haffkine.

Controversy
MiD DAY had reported last year how the renovation process at the Haffkine unit had been inordinately delayed, possibly at the behest of the private pharma lobby, forcing public hospitals to buy stocks at a higher cost (Pharma lobby behind Haffkine renovation?).

In 2007, the unit had met the prescribed quality standards but had fallen short on the infrastructure front. When the revamp had begun, the estimated time was nine months, which got stretched to four years.

"In the last four years, we have not only upgraded the infrastructure but also improved our formulations, thus improving their quality automatically," said Sabde.

The Parel facility currently has only one division working in full swing, which is involved in the manufacturing of a polio vaccine.

"We are one of the major companies supplying oral pulse polio vaccines. We are a United Nations-accredited company and have WHO qualification for the polio vaccine," said Shankarwar.

Asked whether manpower would be a hindrance to the oral liquid division's reopening, Shankarwar said, "We had shifted the employees from the oral liquid division to the functional pulse polio vaccine division. These employees will be shifted back."