This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on May 9, 2017 - May 15, 2017

KUALA LUMPUR: Hovid Bhd says the manufacturing licence for its pharmaceutical plant in Ipoh, Perak, was reinstated last Friday, and that operations have resumed as normal.

“With this, Hovid and all its plants are now operating as normal,” the company said in a statement yesterday on the plant that is located in Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman.

“We would like to thank the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA) for their speed and efficiency, in auditing and reinstating the manufacturing licence for all Hovid’s plants,” it added.

In its Bursa Malaysia filing, Hovid said the licence, which is issued by the health ministry’s NPRA, is valid from May 5, and would have to be renewed three months prior to the expiry date on Dec 31.

On Jan 9 this year, the ministry revoked the manufacturing licences of two Hovid facilities in Perak due to non-compliance with the regulatory’s good manufacturing practice (GMP).

Other than the Ipoh plant, the second affected facility was the one along Jalan Ipoh/Chemor in Chemor.

On March 6, Hovid said the Chemor facility was back in business after the ministry reissued the licence to the facility, and that the licence would be valid from March 6 to Dec 31.

“Hovid has implemented increased measures to ensure the stringent pharma cGMP (current GMP) standards are adhered to and these measures have contributed to NPRA reinstating our licences. All of Hovid’s products are safe to consume and in accordance to NPRA’s pharmaceutical quality system guideline,” Hovid’s statement further read.

“We hold the safety of our customers and consumers in high regard and will always ensure that the right measures and necessary processes are in place to preserve their well-being,” it added.

Trading of Hovid shares was suspended an hour from 10.56am yesterday for the announcement about the reinstatement of the manufacturing licence for its Ipoh plant.

On resumption of trading, the counter saw a spike of interest with volume jumping into the millions. Year to date, the counter has gained 7.4%. But compared with 12 months ago, it’s still down 10.9%.