NEIMETH International Pharmaceuticals PLC is a publicly listed pharmaceutical company founded in 1997 and headquartered in

Lagos Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the List of cities in Africa by population, second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national ca ...

. It was established by a former managing director of Pfizer Products of Nigeria to acquire some of the trading assets of

Pfizer Pfizer Inc. ( ) is an American multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporation headquartered on 42nd Street in Manhattan, New York City. The company was established in 1849 in New York by two German entrepreneurs, Charles Pfizer ...

International in Nigeria.

History

Pfizer in Nigeria

Pfizer began operations in Nigeria in 1957 importing its branded products such as

Terramycin Oxytetracycline is a broad-spectrum tetracycline antibiotic, the second of the group to be discovered. Oxytetracycline works by interfering with the ability of bacteria to produce essential proteins. Without these proteins, the bacteria cannot ...

into the country. In 1962, it opened a factory at Aba, the first pharmaceutical factory in

British West Africa British West Africa was the collective name for British colonies in West Africa during the colonial period, either in the general geographical sense or the formal colonial administrative entity. British West Africa as a colonial entity was orig ...

. The

Civil war A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

in Nigeria affected production at Pfizer's plant at Aba which caused the firm to commit new investment to build a new plant at Oregun, Lagos. The new factory expanded Pfizer's product offerings to include inject-able drugs. In the 1990s, the firm faced increased competition from imported generic products from Asia and those manufactured within the country. While, the firm generated majority of its sales through relationships with pharmacists and hospitals, the rise in OTC consumption and importation of generics shifted the firm's focus away from business to business sales of

prescription drugs A prescription drug (also prescription medication or prescription medicine) is a pharmaceutical drug that legally requires a medical prescription to be dispensed. In contrast, over-the-counter drugs can be obtained without a prescription. The rea ...

and towards OTCs. The firm increased production of OTC drugs and sales to drug stores and other over the counter retailers.

Neimeth

In 1997, the parent company's global re-positioning away from OTC drugs led to a

management buyout A management buyout (MBO) is a form of acquisition in which a company's existing managers acquire a large part, or all, of the company, whether from a parent company or individual. Management-, and/or leveraged buyout became noted phenomena of 1 ...

of majority shares. The new firm was named Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals, in honor of a Pfizer executive who provided support to the Nigerian operation. At inception, Neimeth manufactured drugs licensed from Pfizer International, in 2009, Neimeth's in-house research had yielded product that account for 30% of its revenues. In the middle of 2010s, Neimeth went through a period of losses, at one time, it lost an entire stock of raw materials in a fire incident.

Products

Neimeth's in-house research and development created an herbal remedy for

sickle cell crisis Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a group of blood disorders typically inherited from a person's parents. The most common type is known as sickle cell anaemia. It results in an abnormality in the oxygen-carrying protein haemoglobin found in red blo ...

management called Ciklavit, with

Cajanus cajan The pigeon pea (''Cajanus cajan'') is a perennial legume from the family Fabaceae native to the Old World. The pigeon pea is widely cultivated in tropical and semitropical regions around the world, being commonly consumed in South Asia, Southeast ...

as an active ingredient. The drug is one of the offering from its Neimeth Product Group, a strategic business unit of the firm that also markets generic offerings such as Normoretic and flexodene.

References

{{reflist Pharmaceutical companies of Nigeria Manufacturing companies based in Lagos Nigerian brands Pfizer