REAL LIFE EXPORTER and safety Health
Morningside Pharmaceuticals has taken the export of quality healthcare to new levels, doubling overseas sales in the last six years. Chief executive Dr Nik Kotecha tells Lawrie Holmes how
he story of how Dr Nik Kotecha’s firm, Morningside Pharmaceuticals, a formidable seller of drugs both overseas and in the UK, is remarkable. After an education in drug discovery at Imperial College London and the University of Cambridge, Kotecha gained laboratory and research experience at several UK-based multinationals but was keen to start his own business.
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Recognising a need for high-quality medicines in developing countries, Kotecha set up Morningside with his wife Moni in 1991, exporting generic medicines. “Our main aspiration was to make quality healthcare an affordable and accessible reality throughout the world,” he explains. Following a hunch that the
Commonwealth countries would be an ideal target, Kotecha made a breakthrough in Guyana, followed by Barbados and Trinidad, after receiving help from the British High Commission in each location. “The Commonwealth was where we started,” he recalls, “after asking the countries if they wanted to be supplied by a company that adhered to British standards – a big selling point compared to some markets where it was about price only.”
For the first three years, Kotecha based his growing business from home, before moving to an office and then a site in Loughborough where the company’s
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three warehouses are located. The biggest breakthrough of his career came in 1995 when a visit to the United Nations in New York opened the floodgates for a deluge of work to the UN’s agencies and NGOs, which has continued ever since. A subsequent mission to Geneva, another global hub for the world’s charities and NGOs prompted a similar reaction.
Following the successful visits, Morningside was placed on an approved supplier list for the UN of various generic drugs. “You need this approval if you are going to work with UNICEF, one of our largest clients, the Red Cross and others,” explains Kotecha.
The roll call of agencies buying Morningside’s drugs now also includes Médecin Sans Frontières in France, Belgium and the Netherlands, the World Health Organisation and various global elements of the UN and Red Cross. The biggest single contract is to supply up to 50m disposable gloves a year to UNICEF after Morningside diversified into medical equipment.
A major challenge came with the arrival of the internet, when cheaper alternatives were being sold by email from rivals in China and India. “We had to be different, we had to concentrate on quality,” says Kotecha, in recognition that aid agencies’ reputations, and therefore future funding, depend on the quality of drugs they use. This meant reinforcing the stringent
tests required in the UK by the Medical and Healthcare Regulatory Agency. It also meant a commitment to respond to calls within two hours, seven days a week. “Rapid response is vital in the first hours of emergencies such as tsunamis and earthquakes,” says Kotecha. “That’s why agencies keep coming back to us.” Overseas sales have doubled in the last six years, with 54 new customers gained and a Queen’s Award for International Trade won in 2012. Kotecha’s latest initiative has been to expand in the UK, supplying the NHS, pharmacies, wholesalers and private hospitals, resulting in a 50/50 split between international and domestic business for the company. Kotecha regularly receives help and advice from UK Trade & Investment and is a Catalyst member, giving advice to other small and medium-size businesses on exporting. “Most recently we have used the Overseas Market Introduction Service (OMIS) programme to attend important bid openings for major contracts at a UN agency in Copenhagen,” he says. “This means we have a representative at the bid opening and get first-hand confirmation that our bid has been delivered safely. We plan to use OMIS again in the future as it saves time and money. I would recommend it to other UK businesses.” In addition, UK Trade & Investment has supplied Morningside with a recent report on Russia, more co-operation is planned for the Chinese market, while there has also been guidance on the regulatory requirements for the medical and pharmaceutical industry around the world. There is even the benefit of UK Trade & Investment personnel attending tender briefings. “I would advise companies to visit events initially to gain experience, says Kotecha. “But then it makes sense to use a UK Trade & Investment representative to attend on your behalf in the future.” n
LET’S DO BUSINESS For further information about exporting visit
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