A Six member team of Board of Directors of Asian Development Bank visited Square Pharmaceutical's State of the Art manufacturing facilities at Kaliakoir on June 19 last. ADB Country Director Ms. Hua Du also accompanied the team.

The sprawling site currently houses three manufacturing facilities which are Solid Dosage, Cephalosporins and SVPO (Small Volume Parenteral and Ophthalmic). Square Pharmaceuticals received UK MHRA (United Kingdom Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency) certification of its solid dosage facilities in February 2007 which was the first for a Bangladeshi company. First shipment of products from the facility to UK was made in September 2007.

The visiting Board Members of ADB were from Germany , Korea , United States , Australia , Netherlands and India . The visitors were briefed on the Square pharmaceutical's Domestic and International business followed by a tour of the manufacturing facilities. The Board of Directors was impressed by the progress Bangladesh achieved in Pharmaceuticals. Square's use of state of the art manufacturing facilities for pharmaceutical production and it's on going works to enter into the pharmaceutical markets of Europe and North America received admiration from the visiting ADB Board of Directors.

Photograph: Visiting ADB Board of Directors, ADB Country Director Hua Du and Square Pharma officials.

SAFA (South Asian Federation of Accountants) – an apex body of SAARC (South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation) awarded Square Pharmaceuticals Ltd. the "Merit Certificate" for the year 2006 in the Manufacturing Sector of "SAFA Best Presented Accounts Awards Competition 2006". The SAFA committee honored Square based on its evaluation of published annual report of the company on improvement, transparency, accountability and governance. SAFA as a forum of professional accountancy bodies is committed to positioning, maintaining and developing the accountancy profession in SAARC Region and ensuring its continued eminence in the world of accountancy; in the public interest and towards broad economic development of the region.

Mr. Kabir Reza, Director (Accounts & Finance) of the company received the award on behalf of Square from Mr. Ajith Nivard Cabraal, Governor, Central Bank of Sri Lanka in a presentation ceremony at New Delhi on 12 January, 2008.

Square Pharmaceuticals Ltd. the leading and the largest pharmaceutical company in Bangladesh has been accorded Gold Award as an “Achiever of Industrial Excellence”, amongst the SAARC countries for the year 2007 by CNCI.

This award was conferred to SQUARE at a grand presentation ceremony attended by the dignitaries both from the SAARC and other foreign countries at the Grand Ballroom of Colombo Hilton Hotel on the 6th of July, 2007 in Sri Lanka.

The “CNCI Special SAARC Regional Country Award”, is accorded to the best business entities in the SAARC countries which have achieved the Highest Industrial Excellence in their home countries and have also gained international prominence in conducting business in the most professional and ethical manner.

By winning this highly prestigious award Square Pharma has proved once again to be a business entity with superior management practices, product excellence and business ethics.

Square Pharmaceuticals Ltd., the market-leader of Bangladesh Pharmaceuticals Industry since 1985, is proud to announce its certification by the United Kingdom Medicine Registration Authority (UK MHRA). SQUARE Pharma is the First Bangladeshi Company to obtain this certificate and this has set a New Milestone in the Pharmaceutical Industry of the country.

With this approval, SQUARE Pharma has become the First Bangladeshi Company to start exporting its Finished Pharmaceutical Products to the United Kingdom, having a total pharma-market size of about 30 Billion US Dollar.

It is worthy to mention that UK MHRA Approval is one of the toughest registration processes in the world to register pharmaceutical products for marketing and distribution in the UK. It takes a lot of rigorous processes to comply with the registration requirements for getting the approval from the UK MHRA (United Kingdom Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency), starting from Raw Material Sourcing to all production processes, quality control processes and quality assurance processes, finally leading to the total quality-checks of the finished products.

This approval process also involves thorough inspection & auditing of the designing of the manufacturing plant, selection of the machinery & equipments, HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air-conditioning) system and Purified Water system of the plant to ensure that the entire Manufacturing Plant is strictly maintaining the World-class Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Environment as per the MHRA GMP requirements.

SQUARE Pharma is proud to inform that it took about 2 years for the pharma-leader of Bangladesh to get prepared for the registration of its products with UK MHRA and on successful completion of the Inspection by the UK MHRA Regulatory Inspectors in February 2007, of SQUARE’s manufacturing, quality control & quality assurance processes and all machineries & equipments, the UK Regulatory Authority has approved SQUARE PHARMA to start marketing and distribution of its world-class finished pharmaceutical products to the United Kingdom.

This approval will help SQUARE Pharma to enter into the regulated pharmaceutical markets like other European countries, Australia, South Africa and the GCC countries in near future.

This feat of SQUARE Pharma has again proved its commitment to the total quality-compliance and has shown it to the whole world that Bangladesh can also produce world-class pharmaceutical products for serving the people of developed countries like the UK.

Square Pharmaceuticals Ltd. has recently (on 28.04.07) introduced Nebanol^® 10 gm powder. Nebanol^® has been the most popular topical antibiotic brand in Bangladesh for many years mainly due to Nebanol^® 5 gm powder. But the packaging of this product was old fashioned & also it was insufficient for the whole family. So, as a part of Square’s continuous endeavor to bring positive changes in its products & services, Nebanol^® 10 gm powder has been launched. This change has certainly enhanced the elegance & aesthetic appeal of Nebanol^® powder & also ensured a suitable pack size for the whole family to prevent or treat bacterial infections in case of minor burns, cuts or other skin conditions.

Nebanol^® 10 gm powder contains the effective combination of two potent antibacterial agents - Neomycin Sulphate & Bacitracin Zinc. Its price is Tk. 20.00/ Phial.

To combat the threat of Bird-Flu outbreak, SQUARE Pharmaceuticals Ltd. is manufacturing Bird-Flu medicine, “Aviflu”.

In a donation program at SQUARE Hospitals Ltd., Mr. Samson H Chowdhury, Chairman of Square Group handed over “Aviflu” to cover the treatment of 200 patients to Chief guest of the program, Health Advisor, Major Gen. Dr. A.S.M. Matiur Rahman (Retd). Advisor, Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock, Dr. Chowdhury Sajjadul Karim was also present at the program as a special guest. The renowned doctors of the country associated with the treatment of Avian Flu were also present at the donation program.

Square Pharmaceutical Limited has organized a launching program of their Antiretroviral (ARV) drugs at Spectra Convention Centre, Gulshan-1, Dhaka on 28 November 2006.

Managing Director of Square Pharmaceutical Limited Mr. Tapan Chowdhury has inaugurated the program and donated drugs to three NGOs namely

• Ashar Alo Society (AAS),
• Mukto Akash and
• Confidential Approach to AIDS Prevention

The launching program covered the following drugs:
Hivarif Tablet (150 mg Lamivudine), Hivarif Oral Solution( Each ml oral Solution contains 10 mg Lamivudine, 100 ml phial), Avudin Tablet (Lamivudine 150 mg and Zidovudine 300 mg), Tivizid Tablet (Abacavir 300 mg, Lamivudine 150 mg and Zidovudine 300 mg), Adiva Tablet (Efavirenz INN 600 mg) and Nelvir tablet (Nelfinavir 250 mg)