KATHMANDU, Dec 27: Nepal Drugs Limited (NDL) has said that it would resume production and distribution of its paracetamol brand, Cetamol, within a month.
Stating that nearly 90 percent of work to resume production of Cetamol has already been completed, the state-owned drug producer on Tuesday said that it will start distributing the popular medicine from January-end.
Talking to Republica, Robhash Kusam Subedi, general manager of NDL, said that lengthy procurement process delayed production of Cetamol. “Now, works are progressing as per the plan. We are hopeful of distributing the drug to the market by January-end,” he added.
Subedi also said that the company was planning to produce new drug every other month. “We had a lot of obstacles. It is very difficult to resume production after a gap of six years. But we are doing our best to perform better and regain our market,” he added.
NDL again postpones Cetamol production
NDL resumed operation with the production of Jeevan Jal, an oral rehydration salt (ORS), from May 7, 2017. It has also resumed production of distilled water and glycerin. According to the company, production of glycerin and distilled water has increased by more than 150 percent.
“We have been producing medicines by following criteria prescribed by Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) of World Health Organization. Very soon we will be producing all 70 medicines that the government providing to patients free of cost,” he added.
According to NDL, the reconstruction of tablet manufacturing unit is in the final stage. Similarly, it has started operating 28 types of machinery by upgrading its Quality Control Department and Microbiology Department as per the Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) standard.
NDL has also formed Quality Assurance Department and Research and Development Department. Furthermore, it has already appointed distributors of Jeevan Jal for Province No 1, 4, 5, 6 and 7.
The government established NDL in 1972 with an objective of being self-dependent on different types of medicines. However, it stopped production in 2010 after it failed to meet the GMP standards prescribed by WHO. Till 2003, NDL used to produce 120 kinds of medicines.
