PROCAPS S.A.S. (Capsules Producers) was born in the year 1977 in Barranquilla, Colombia.
Our first group of pharmaceutical sales representatives was constituted in the year 1978 with the objective to explore all fields of medicine.
Our first PROCAPS branded product (Dolofen) was launched in 1979 and since our beginnings we have always provided manufacturing services to major laboratories, among which we find Bayer, Roche, Wyeth, Merck, Bagó, Glaxo-Smithkline and Sanofi-Aventis.
In 1983 we conducted negotiations in the city of Bogotá for the purchase of space and machinery to make disposable syringes especially for this pharmaceutical sector, by operating the Polyflex division, dedicated to the manufacture and marketing of this specific product.
As time passed, the products gained grater recognition form users and costumers, because these were guaranteed with quality seals NTC ISO in 1988 for syringes and in 1989 for disposable needles.
In the late eighties, we began to unite ideas and services to take valuable steps to strengthen our image at an international level. In the first stage, Cynamid Corporation, a U.S. company, selected us to produce and commercialize their products of their pharmaceutical division “Lederle”, in the Colombian market.
In October 1990, we completed the negotiations to form Unipharma owned by PROCAPS and Upjohn Company. With this event the Company began the development of new dosage forms other than the soft capsule. At this time, Procaps S.A., produced some liquids syrups, drops, suspensions and another tablets, but still did not produce coated tablets or injections. It was later that year, with the help of Unipharma, that we began the development of these pharmaceutical formulations.
In 1990 began a period of growth, during which we lived a series of expansions, purchase of machinery and improvements, that they tripled the production capacity of the plant and thus respond to the need for increased production of commercial activity in Central and South America, and soon after the United States and Canada.
In 1990, we created our own research and development department, with which we have achieved notable progress, both in the field of production of gelatin capsules and in the creation of significant technological efficiency formulas.
In November 1992, with the assistance of the U.S. Company Gaberino International, we created DISMEC area, becoming the producer itself of all parts and molds for capping machines.
In 1993, following the business relationship with a customer of Barranquilla, started production of paintballs, whose material is the same gelatin preparation of medicines.
In 1994 we settled the area of stabilities, which by subjecting the products to extreme tests, guarantee a better quality.
In 1995, we developed a formula with an immunosuppressive drug aimed at patients with organ transplants whose application allows the organ not to be rejected by the body.
In 1995 the company began working for the achievement of ISO certifications and in June 9 of 1999, was awarded the first ISO 9001 certification.
In 1999 began the construction of 10,000 square meters of production plant, which would be dedicated to the manufacture of products under the standards required by the INVIMA and other health institutions in Latin America, Canada and the United States.
Currently, the plant is about 20,000 m2 and has the capacity to manufacture four billion soft gelatin capsules per year. During the last ten years we have established sophisticated manufacturing plants that produce soft gelatin capsule in Venezuela and Brazil, generating a superior manufacturing capacity.
On June 10 of 2000 we got for the production plant, the GMP certification, Good Manufacturing Practices, awarded by the National Institute of Food and Drug Monitoring (INVIMA) certifying the efficacy and safety of our products.
After the consolidation of the Paintballs business, in 2001 we created the brand Severe, which entered with massive marketing and advertising, to achieve the goal of expanding its production. Quickly this objective was met, the business grew and our brand was known in the United States, Europe and Latin America, making it the fourth largest exporter of Paintballs worldwide.
In November 2002 we received the recertification of our Quality System, based on the International Standard ISO 9001 version 2000.
Due to the improvement of our manufacturing and quality assurance in the management and control system security, we received BASC certification of the Business Alliance for Secure Commerce. The first certification was obtained in September 2003, and from that date the certification was renewed until November 2007.
In October 2003, we received the highest exporter award in the category "Great Work" awarded by Analdex and Proexport Colombia.
In December 2003, the ICA granted us GPM certification, which certifies all production processes and allows us to manufacture veterinary products in all dosage forms allowed.
In 2004, we created DESYTEC (Development and Technology), a group whose goal is to generate patentable Procaps products. To date, we highlight several achievements, including: Ibuprofen CBG, Ritonavir microemulsion and Betaduo injectable suspension.
The organization has been full of challenges and achievements that have proved Colombia and the world, that in this Company, an interdisciplinary team generates highly relevant projects. USGP (Generic Program for the United States), is one of those ambitious projects that began in January of 2005, but that had been structured from 1.999, with the firm objective to be the first Latin American laboratory to market in the United States with generic products certified by the FDA (the agency responsible for promoting and protecting public health in the United States).
Later in 2005, we opened a new pharmaceutical company, listed as one of the most modern in the country.
In 2006 we began the construction of the logistics center in an area of 3,174 M2 and ended in early 2007.
Coincidentally, before the outbreak of the H1N1 flu pandemic, since 2006 we had been working to develop a drug for the treatment of respiratory infection by influenza virus in adults. After two years of hard work, in 2009, they decided to file the application for the licensing of our product TAZAMIR, and in May 15 we obtained the approval of the health record of TAZAMIR-Procaps-Oseltamivir by the INVIMA.
In 2007, we acquired all of a company located in Cotia, St. Paul, whose name is SOFTCAPS. It has an area of 6,100 m² with an industrial plant area of 2,700 m² installed.
With technology and international expertise, this company produces from Brazil, soft gelatin capsules, attending strictly to international standards of Good Manufacturing Practices, with certifications in the following regulatory agencies: ANVISA, INVIMA and ANMAT.
In September 2007, we made the first delivery of documents to the regulator system in the United States, responsible for the quality of food, cosmetics and drugs marketed in that country.
For 2008, the international projection of the Company took us to make institutional presence in Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Honduras after entering the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, El Salvador and Panama, for greater integration and the search for better results development and growth.
In 2008, we launched a new project aimed at improving the health and quality of human life: CI Naturmega S.A., a company dedicated to the refinement of natural oils for the production of Omega 3 oils and their derivatives as raw material for pharmaceutical industry. With the most advanced technology for design, manufacture and marketing of innovative pharmaceutical and nutritional use, this factory was a pioneer in the Andina region in the production of omega 3 with high concentrations of EPA and DHA.
In 2008, we decided to join other companies in Latin America, developing into a global impact Regional Corporation, respecting local characteristics of each country where it operates. Its objectives are to open new markets around the world with the firm objective of becoming one of the most vibrating companies in the American Continent.
In March of 2009 we got the pre-approval by the FDA, to compete with generic drugs of the United States, an achievement that led to the implementation of a total quality culture in all production processes, which includes a chain ranging from the selection of a capable human talent and integrity, to the development of formulas that permit us to have in the market, equivalent products to those that are already there.
In 2009, we acquired full Alinova factory located in the city of Bogota, becoming a strategic business opportunity for manufacturing, packaging, maquilar, designing and marketing nutraceutical products and confectionery in Colombia and export them to markets inEurope and North America.
On November 24, 2011 we won the Award of Merit in Business Simon Bolivar Innovative Company category.
In September 2012 we were notified of the approval by the FDA of our product PROGESTERONE CAPSULES for the U.S. territory. With this certification, we open the way for deliveries to begin as the pharmaceutical market demands.
In July 2012 the Colombian Agricultural Institute (ICA) awarded the recertification of Good Manufacturing Practice for Veterinary products.
In April 2012 we signed the cooperation agreement between Procaps and Silanes S.A. Laboratories of CV, a Mexican company with market presence in Europe, South and Central America, known for its technological innovation and product development. The partnership agreement was that Silanes Laboratories and Procaps be supportive in the process of international expansion in Mexico, Colombia and Venezuela, through product licensing.