Large order to QPharma
Will give the third world an accessible and efficient contraceptive

The pharmaceutical company QPharma, located in Malmö, Sweden, has been commissioned to manufacture a new and revolutionary contraceptive for women in the third world.
The inventor of the product is Population Council, a world-recognised international non-profit, non-governmental organisation with a directive to improve the well-being and reproductive healthcare of people around the world.

QPharma in Malmö will manufacture a novel polymeric controlled-release delivery system – a contraceptive vaginal ring – on a large scale. As a consequence, QPharma now gears up for additional recruitment and facility enlargements. The company has unique expertise in the area of polymeric controlled-release systems, and expects this order to spur other inquiries to follow.

– Only a few sites in the world can manufacture this class of product, says QPharma’s MD, Kenneth Stokholm. We are the only one capable of industrialising it for commercial manufacture. The order from Population Council calls for many millions of contraceptive rings each year for an indefinite period of time. That means expansion for us and many new job opportunities in Malmö.

Background information
About 20 million unsafe abortions are performed each year around the world. 200 women die every day in illnesses following such abortions, often as a result of unwanted pregnancies (source: WHO).

The demand is enormous for a cheap, reliable, user-friendly (i.e. fitted without professional assistance) and easily distributed contraceptive for women. Experts in reproductive healthcare agree that Population Council’s delivery system satisfies all these requirements.

The polymeric intra-vaginal ring has a duration of 1 year. Using the ring is discreet and can give women in the third world an independence that is otherwise often undermined.

The 12-month contraceptive vaginal ring releases two types of hormones. It has an effect similar to that of the pill, but subjects the body to significantly lower doses of the hormones.

Population Council’s business model allows pharmaceutical companies to in-license this contraceptive system and therefore make it available worldwide. The organisation has developed innovative controlled-release systems since the 1970’s, which have benefited women’s reproductive health significantly.

Population Council obtains financial grants for its projects from many international institutions. Examples include the US, Danish and Swedish governments, as well as foundations such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

QPharma has long and unrivalled experience of manufacturing vaginal rings, having supplied a 3-month hormone replacement therapy vaginal ring since 1993. It is now well-documented that this delivery system is sustainable and can be used with other drug substances than contraceptives.