OPERATING since 1984, Brookes Pharmaceutical (Pvt) Ltd now caters to the domestic market by providing over 100 products and saving the country Rs3bn through import substitution. It also earns foreign exchange of $20m per annum through exports.

Brookes provides toll-manufacturing services — third-party manufacturing facility, or an arrangement where a company processes raw materials or semi-finished goods for another company — as a key component of its corporate doctrine. It currently toll-manufactures for three pharmaceutical companies, including Bristol-Myers Squibb.

This shows the confidence and credibility of the company in the eyes of its clients and the broader industry, says its CEO, Senator Abdul Haseeb Khan.

Sri Lanka was the first foreign market in which the company’s products made their appearance, in 1996. It has since then penetrated the ‘pharmacy bazaars’ of a number of countries, including Nepal, Kenya, Uganda, Afghanistan and Myanmar. This success indicates the growing acceptance of the organisation’s quality medicines.

The company’s CEO narrated to this writer in his factory office in Korangi about how he came into the medicine business despite having no background in this field, being equipped with an electrical engineering degree.

Brookes provides toll-manufacturing services — third-party manufacturing facility, or an arrangement where a company processes raw materials or semi-finished goods for another company — as a key component of its corporate doctrine

He summed up his life story in a few words: “From footpaths to the Senate of Pakistan”. After migrating from Bhopal, India, to Pakistan along with his family in 1952, he was admitted in class five in a government school in Mirpurkhas.

After moving to Karachi, he got admitted in the electrical engineering programme at the Polytechnic Institute. During this period, Senator Abdul Haseeb said he sold ‘samosas’ on a footbath to pay his fee and support his family.

After doing some odd jobs, including one at the PWD as a storekeeper, he became a supervisor at a factory in Korangi that is now in the same row as his own unit, which is spread over 200,000 sq feet. For a short period, he had also worked with Pakistan Oxygen as a sales representative.

However, in 1966, he joined a company that exported molasses as a terminal manager for around 10 years. During this time, he saved some money and then made his own terminal for edible oil. As the land was given by the KPT on lease, little investment was needed for erecting oil storage tanks, which he did by using ship plates from the Gadani ship breaking yard.

One day, while having a cup of tea with a German friend named Muhlel at a local hotel and discussing business activities, Khan said the two of them realised that the nature of their businesses was extremely dull. His German friend was exporting black carbon from Pakistan and he himself was only filling and discharging edible oil from his terminal.

Before finishing the tea, he recalled, both friends had agreed to enter the pharmaceutical business, and in just 30 minutes, “we decided to set up Brookes Medical Services. My friend went back to Germany and I rented office space in Clifton for our new business”.

In the meantime, Mr Muhlel made agreements with Germany companies like Merz Pharma, Klinge Pharma and Oxo-Chemie for exporting medicines to the newly formed company. Within two years, in 1986, the plot on which the company’s modern setup is working today was purchased for Rs1.6m, the senator said.

For setting up the manufacturing facility, the Industrial Bank of Pakistan (IDBP) was approached for a loan of Rs20m. Within two years, the entire factory was built and was inaugurated by his father.

Responding to a question, he said Brookes is the only pharmaceutical company in the country that produces anesthesia products. Of the roughly 800 units manufacturing medicines and drugs in Pakistan, only 19 are multinationals.

Local drug makers currently have a market share of 60pc and MNCs 40pc. This compares with a 20pc share for local manufacturers and 80pc for MNCs in the pre-1980s era, he said.

After healthcare was devolved to the provinces under the 18th amendment, many issues have cropped up. However, he made a lot of efforts in the Senate to form the Drug Regulatory Authority (DRA) at the federal level, and the bill was passed in the Senate and the National Assembly on November 13, 2012.

Senator Khan said the comprehensive law is designed to ensure the quality of medicines at affordable prices. Similarly, it places the responsibility for ensuring the availability of medicines in government hospitals across the country on the DRA.

Furthermore, the Pharmacy Council of Pakistan Bill, also drafted by him and passed by the Senate, is pending before the relevant ministries and awaiting approval by the National Assembly.

Published in Dawn, Economic & Business, November 17th, 2014