Judging by the amount it plans to invest over the next year, keeping Douglas Pharmaceuticals in the family is just as important as keeping it in New Zealand.
In full-year 2020 the company is spending $45 million on R&D, $35m on a new building and $20m on upgrading the plant and equipment – a total investment of $100m. This follows spending in 2019 of more than $35m in R&D and $15m into expansion and renovation at its three sites in Auckland, Fiji and Philadelphia, an investment of $150m over two years.
A 4500sq m building is due for completion in August 2020 and will be linked by sky bridge to Douglas’ headquarters on the corner of Te Pai and Central Park Drive in Henderson, West Auckland. It is expected to be the largest pharmaceutical R&D facility in the country and a large investment in the local economy.
But that’s not the only time the chequebook was whipped out. In the past year, the Douglas Charitable Trust has presented the Starship Foundation with a $9m donation to buy lifelike medical mannequins and other gear. It was the single largest donation in the children’s hospital’s history. The Trust gave $3m to Starship in 2010 to pay for a new medical scanner.
The company also became a “Rescue Partner” of the Auckland Coastguard, stepping up its involvement with the service after being a minor part of the initiative for many years.
Douglas Pharmaceuticals – the highly successful, New Zealand-owned generic drug manufacturer serving local and export markets – can afford all this investment because business has never been better.
In its latest financial year, Douglas Pharmaceuticals’ sales increased 5% to $236m, along with revenue growth of $36.2m, and it's planning to hit $500m in sales by 2025. Since the early 2000s, its turnover has doubled, and its gone from doing 90% of its business in New Zealand to 70% done overseas.
A phase II trial, in collaboration with the University of Otago, is under way to develop a new drug for treatment-resistant depression based on the anaesthetic, Ketamine. A small seven-patient trial has already shown encouraging results and will soon be widened to 200-plus patients in three countries.
More areas of interest for the company include repurposing the cancer drug Vinorelbine to treat ectopic pregnancy (when an embryo implants somewhere other than the uterus), along with a partnership with other drug companies to make existing cancer treatments more effective for a larger number of patients.
Founded in 1967 by pharmacist Graeme Douglas when he created a cough syrup formula called Kofsin, Douglas Pharmaceuticals is now one of the fastest-growing pharmaceutical development and manufacturing companies in Oceania.
In the early 1970s, Sir Graeme’s chemist shop had over $2m in revenue when he sold it to focus on the pharmaceutical business. By the late 1980s, that business was selling dozens of products, generating $25m of revenue, increasing over that decade to more than $70m. The patriarch was knighted in 2010 for his services to philanthropy and athletics.
In 2012, Sir Graeme's eldest son, Jeff, took over the company. Jeff began at the company in 1979 and is also a trustee of the Waitakere Trusts Stadium, a station officer at Kumeu Volunteer Fire Brigade, a Bay of Islands Swordfish Club board member and he also farms cattle on 36ha at Kumeu.
Today, the company employs more than 760 people – including 120 scientists – and manufactures products sold in 38 countries.
2018: $285 million