Towards Pharmaceutical Independence: Producing Infusions in Africa

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The Bosch subsidiary, SBM specializes in the development of high-quality sterilizers, and Dr Dovi-Akué was already familiar with the company from various trade fairs as it has an excellent reputation and offers high machine quality. “I have a lot of trust in the specialists at SBM,” Dr Dovi-Akué says. Since early 2012, the company has been advising Do Pharma how to achieve its ambitious goals while maintaining a high level of quality at an affordable price. In the same year, the company confirmed a deal with SBM and purchased a SWS

sterilizer at the Achema trade fair.

Sterilization by Hot-Water Shower

The sterilizer was developed especially for sterilizing 100 per cent closed containers using the hot water shower process. This process has the advantage of allowing containers with temperature-sensitive liquids to be gently sterilized within short cycles. The intravenous solutions in polyethylene bottles are sterilized at 108 degrees celsius. The sterilizer has a capacity of 9,500 bottles with a volume of 500 milliliters each, which are manually loaded into stacking trays and transferred to the sterilizer on an automatic roller conveyor.

SBM delivered the machine to Togo in late 2013. While installing the system, the project team truly came to understand the challenges that Dr Dovi-Akué and his colleagues had to face daily. Simple materials were either not available or were available only at high prices. This meant that only urgently required materials had to be ordered from Europe and sent to Togo.

Ready to Begin

“The entire project took a long time, primarily due to the financing hurdles that we had to overcome. But now, we have accomplished most of what was required,” says Dr Dovi-Akué. This year, the qualification and validation of the line will be completed, and production of intravenous solutions will begin.

In the medium-term, Do Pharma is also planning to manufacture fever-reducing medications and antibiotics. “SBM provided us with excellent support throughout the process and continues to help out. We will certainly keep the company in mind as we expand the project,” Dr Dovi-Akué concludes.

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