A medicine routinely given to Bangladeshi children with diarrhoea has become an exceptionally profitable product for its importer by being classified not as a drug, but as a food supplement, according to a whistleblower with direct knowledge of the company’s operations.
The claims, made by a current or former employee of Beximco Pharmaceuticals, shine a light on a corner of the country’s healthcare market that has largely escaped public scrutiny — even as it serves one of the most common illnesses affecting young children.
At the centre of the allegations is Enterogermina Oral Suspension, an Italian-made probiotic brought into Bangladesh by Synovia Pharma PLC, a company affiliated with Beximco. Rather than register the product as a pharmaceutical drug — which would subject it to price controls and stricter oversight — the company sells it as a food supplement, placing it in a far more loosely regulated category.
At the centre of the allegations is Enterogermina Oral Suspension, an Italian-made probiotic brought into Bangladesh by Synovia Pharma PLC, a company affiliated with Beximco. Rather than register the product as a pharmaceutical drug — which would subject it to price controls and stricter oversight — the company sells it as a food supplement, placing it in a far more loosely regulated category.
That classification, industry experts and the whistleblower say, has allowed prices to surge unchecked.
A 600% mark-up
Import records examined by the magazine Bangla...
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