NDC to produce Cetamol in a couple of weeks

Kathmandu, Dec. 26:

The Tablet Manufacturing Unit at Nepal Drug Company (NDC) is in the final phase of reconstruction and will be completed within a couple of weeks with the installation of a compression machine.

All the core facilities have been already installed, and the compression machine is shortly arriving Kathmandu from India.

The new plant will have a production capacity of 320,000 tablets per batch, every 4 to 5 days.

The company on Tuesday said that it would begin the production of Cetamol, a paracetamol tablet which once dominated the medicine market in the country, by the end of January 2018.

Works related to tendering for the import of raw materials, packaging and distribution have been concluded.

“We are making preparations to produce at least six other products, including iron pills, Albendazole and other tablets within this fiscal year 2017/18. I am hopeful of adding one product every month,” Director General of the NDC Dr. Robhash Kusum Subedi said at a press conference organised by the company.

Cetamol will be the first tablet-size medicine and fourth product of the state-owned drug company after it resumed production of medicines with the production of ‘Jeevan Jal’ – an oral rehydration solution (ORS) – in May this year after shutting down for eight years.

Currently, the NDC is producing Jeevan Jal, glycerine and distilled water.

The company was forced to halt its operations in 2009 as it couldn’t follow the WHO-GMP guidelines and Codes on Drug Manufacturing, 1984.

The erstwhile Minister for Industry Nabindra Raj Joshi had decided to reopen the company in order to lessen the dependency of medicines on other countries, use domestic raw materials and herbs, counter the private sector monopoly, and supply necessary drugs to the government at lower rates.

The minister had announced that the NDC would produce about 40 types of medicines, including anti-venom and anti-rabies vaccines, of which 15 types of medicines would be produced by October 2017.

But lack of cooperation from the Ministry of Finance, confusion created by the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in India, and change of leadership at the Ministry of Industry (MoI), had hampered the reoperation process of the company and delayed the production of pharmaceutical products.

The company was able to come into operation with a Rs. 64.8 million loan support from the government. The Ministry of Finance has pledged loans totally Rs. 146.5 million to the company, but the latter is yet to get the remaining money.

About Rs. 80 million is needed for the renovation of the plants at the company.

Company secretary Tikaram Aryal said that the Quality Control Department and Microbiology Department at the NDC had come into full operation following the installation of 28 types of new machines.

Similarly, a Research and Development Department, and Quality Assurance Department have also been established.

The company plans to produce medicines of international standard as per the World Health Organisation (WHO) Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) guidelines.