Laugfs to commence Rs.2.5bn saline plant operations within 10 months

• Says plant has capacity to supply SL’s entire requirement for next 10 years
• Aims to begin work on US$ 30mn pharmaceutical manufacturing project before saline plant completion 

By Nishel Fernando 
Laugfs Holdings Limited is planning to commence operations of its Rs.2.5 billion Intravenous (IV) solution (saline) manufacturing plant located in the Koggala Export Processing Zone (EPZ) within next 10-12 months.

“Within 10 months, we expect the product to come into the market. We have the capacity to service the entire requirement of the country. We are even positioned to fulfil the requirement for the next 10 years,” Laugfs Holdings Limited Group Managing Director/CEO Piyadasa Kudabalage told Mirror Business.

He noted that Laugfs Holdings entered into an agreement with the government to establish an IV solution manufacturing plant based on a RFP in 2014. In addition, it entered into a buyback agreement with the government last year.

 
According to Laugfs Holdings Limited Deputy Chairman Thilak De Silva, the Group has invested Rs.2.5 billion in the project, located on 4-acre land in Koggala.

The project comes under the Group subsidiary Laugfs Life Sciences, which was setup to develop IV-related products.

Kudabalage noted that the company is currently studying the possibility of exporting its products to certain markets.

“We are also looking at exports, especially to the South African region; we are doing studies at the moment,” he stressed.

Sri Lanka imports IV infusion solutions, mainly saline and dextrose solutions, for healthcare needs of the population by exhausting a considerable sum of foreign exchange. 
The annual requirement of IV solutions bottles for government health institutions tops over 12 million of 500 ml bottles.

Meanwhile, De Silva said that Laugfs Holdings might start the construction of its pharmaceutical manufacturing project within 12 months, before the completion of the saline manufacturing plant.

“Simultaneously, we might commence the work at our pharmaceutical manufacturing project. We will probably not wait until the completion of the saline project. We already have approvals and buy back agreements in place. Further, we have also indentified formulas and necessities,” he elaborated.

The US$ 30 million project comes under the Group subsidiary Laugfs Pharmaceuticals, which is expected to develop a range of pharmaceutical products.

The government plans to manufacture 50 percent of the country’s requirement of pharmaceuticals locally within the next three years. The country sources 85 percent of its drug requirement through imports at an annual cost of Rs.130 billion.

India accounts for almost half of the country’s drug imports followed by Pakistan, United States, Switzerland, France, Bangladesh and the United Kingdom. 

Sri Lanka’s pharmaceutical market is expected to reach US$ 787 million by 2022 driven by the country’s ageing population.