KUALA LUMPUR (March 8): Mohamed Iqbal Abdul Rahman has retired as Pharmaniaga Berhad chief operating officer (COO) effective immediately, ending his 13-year tenure with the company.
In a filing with the local stock exchange, the pharmaceutical outfit said that Iqbal joined in 2011 as director of information technology before being promoted to COO in 2012.
With over 32 years of experience in system improvement and operations management, Iqbal led initiatives such as implementation of business intelligence system and robotic process automation. He played a crucial role in implementing the Pharmacy Information System (PhIS) in over 1,200 Ministry of Health (MOH) facilities.
During the pandemic, Iqbal was responsible for leading the successful implementation of the fill and finish manufacturing of the Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine. He also led the successful negotiation of the new concession agreement with MOH in 2023.
Before joining Pharmaniaga, Iqbal served as general manager — head of operations at Faber Medi-Serve Sdn Bhd, overseeing overall operations and stakeholder engagement activities with MOH.
Pharmaniaga, 51.8%-owned by Boustead Holdings Berhad, became a Practice Note 17-affected issuer last year, following a loss of RM607.32 million in the financial year ending Dec 31, 2022 (FY2022), primarily attributed to a RM552.3 million impairment of Covid-19 vaccines.
The group's net loss for the final quarter of 2023 narrowed down to RM32.72 million, compared to a net loss of RM644.39 million in the previous corresponding quarter, mainly due to improved performance in its Indonesian segment, despite a decline in revenue resulting from lower sales in its concession business.
On Feb 29, Pharmaniaga announced the appointment of Zulkifli Jafar as its executive director to lead the company's turnaround efforts after submitting a plan to exit its PN17 status to Bursa Malaysia.
At Friday’s noon break, Pharmaniaga's shares traded half a sen or 1.41% higher at 36 sen, giving it a market capitalisation of RM518.84 million.