"My personal mission is to bring world class medicines, including drugs still under patent protection, to those people who need them most"

Zia Uddin, Founder and CEO

"Considered a 'least developed country' (LDC) and granted a waiver by the WTO to produce pharmaceuticals that remain under patent protection, Bangladesh can export these pharmaceuticals to other LDCs until 2033"

"Pristine Life Sciences harnesses the latest in technology and plant equipment to ensure our manufacturing processes meet the highest export market standards and specifications."

Who Are We?

Pristine Life Science manufactures APIs for the domestic and international markets. Leveraging Bangladesh’s unique position as a Least Developed Country, PLS takes advantage of a WTO waiver to manufacture and export APIs still under patent to the fast growing LDC market.

Generic API manufacturing will focus on molecules that are in high demand and with more than five years remaining under patent such as antiviral and diabetes medications and other lifestyle medicines including HIV.

What We Make?

Pristine Life Sciences ( PLS ) manufactures bulk Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs), specialising in APIs still under patent for export to the international LDC markets. These fast-growing economies are all grappling with the swift onset of “first-world” diseases that have already impacted much of the developed world. Limited domestic manufacturing capability means patients do not have access to affordable, compliant and proven medicines which can be a matter of life and death.

PLS will begin operations by manufacturing 16 unique API molecules that are most in-demand in the LDC countries. These include anti-biotics, anti-fungals, anti-depressants, anti-coagulants, anti-viral, cardiovascular and diabetes medications and other drugs targeting lifestyle diseases including HIV. Products selected for manufacture all have more than five years remaining under patent which means they are well-proven and established treatments within the medical communities

Our Markets

Part of a complex global supply chain, API sales are typically managed through a network of sales agents acting on behalf of the pharmaceutical and formulation companies. From over 12 years’ experience, our leadership team have longstanding relationships with a number of these buyers and we will work in close collaboration to ensure the PLS product roll-out is aligned to identified market needs.

Phase I sales will focus on MENA (Egypt and Jordan) then Korea and Japan before extending into the European and US markets in Phase II. Market entry will require country-by-country accreditation and from the outset, PLS manufacturing will comply with the United States FDA standards, considered the industry “gold standard”.

Our Team

Dr. Md. Rabiul Islam

Advisor for Research & Development

Roselan Araf

Adviser for Investment and Strategies

Major General Md Jahangir Hossain Mollik

Advisor for Regulatory Affairs

Declan MacFadden

Advisor for Global expansions

Md Zia Uddin

Founder and CEO

Dr. Cho Youngki

Co-Founder, PLS Manufacturing

PLS and the Bangladesh
Active Pharmaceutical
Ingredient (API) Industry

History of drug manufacturing in Bangladesh:

Transforming and evolving since the early 1980s, the pharmaceutical industry in Bangladesh is one of the most developed sectors within the country. Heavily dependent on technology, skills and building proprietary knowledge, the commitment to grow the sector was significant for a country already faced with enormous economic challenges. Government support was by way of financial incentives has made Bangladesh one of the only LDCs with a well-developed pharma sector and almost fully self-supporting in terms of medicines for the country’s 160 million population.

The success of the initiatives can be measured in a dramatic 34% increase in overall life expectancy, evidence that access to world class medicines can benefit an entire population.

Economic growth has paralleled this rise in healthcare standards and from 2012 to 2017, the CAGR was 15%, and 21% from 2014 to 2017. According to the Bangladesh Export Promotion Bureau, the market size of pharmaceuticals will reach about BDT 330,000 million by 2020. According to Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, the sector contributed 1.85% to the GDP in 2016-17. The government has targeted that the sector become a significant employer, with a goal of creating jobs for 500,000 people by 2032.

The Bangladesh
Advantage

Bangladesh’s status as a “Least Developed Country” (LDC) under the WTO means that local manufacturers are covered under a TRIPS agreement / waiver allowing them to manufacture and export drugs that are still under patent protection to other LDCs.

Additional Bangladesh government incentives including a cash rebate on international sales revenue and tax exemption until 2032 together with the low cost, highly regulated manufacturing infrastructure, all make Bangladesh a highly attractive source of API products.

Critical to success will be manufacturers able to meet the international compliance and regulatory standards of each international market which to date has limited the export of local products to select LDCs.

PLS will be among the first export-ready API manufacturers in Bangladesh that is fully compliant and regulated to international regulatory standards.

Global Supply Chains

Recent decades have seen the rise of increasingly complex global supply chains driven by the demand for ever lower priced products. This has created significant vulnerabilities, many of which were highlighted with the Covid-19 pandemic, including a shortage of respirators, face masks and even paracetamol.

Companies worldwide are now rethinking their supply chains to minimize the risk of over-dependency on one supply source through diversification and built in redundancy. This represents a significant opportunity for PLS as an alternative source of APIs supported by Bangladesh’s proven track record as an exporter of finished and fast-moving goods to markets worldwide.