- Subsidiary of Sunshine Healthcare Lanka, the first fully-integrated local healthcare
company in Sri Lanka
Sunshine Healthcare Lanka (SHL), the healthcare arm of the diversified
conglomerate Sunshine Holdings PLC (CSE: SUN), officially commenced the operations of
its subsidiary, Lina Spiro (Pvt) Ltd, Sri Lanka’s first Metered-Dose Inhaler (MDI)
manufacturing plant in Kadawatha today. The State Minister of Production, Supply and
Regulation of Pharmaceuticals, Prof. Channa Jayasumana ceremoniously declared open the
facility in the presence of senior officials from Sunshine Holdings, Akbar Brothers, National
Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA), State Pharmaceutical Corporation (SPC), Medical
Supplies Division (MSD), State Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Corporation (SPMC) and
other public and private healthcare institutions.
The state-of-the-art factory, which has a qualified and experienced staff manufacturing a line
of Respiratory Care Products, is the only GMP certified manufacturer of MDI products in Sri
Lanka. Lina Spiro is the latest pharmaceutical plant by Lina Manufacturing which has been
engaged in this sector for over 10 years and is a successful local manufacturer supplying a
large variety of respiratory products to the Government sector and private sector. Lina has
pioneered the development of local respiratory products, with its patented Repsiratory
Inhaler Device, and continues to invest significantly in R&D to introduce more products. Lina
Manufacturing has investing significantly in the latest European tablet production lines from
IMA Italy, a world leader in pharmaceutical automation technologies.
In December 2020, Sunshine Holdings announced its healthcare business’s strategic merger
consisting of Sunshine Healthcare Lanka and Healthguard Pharmacy with Akbar
Pharmaceuticals, Lina Manufacturing and Lina Spiro—the business units of Akbar
Healthcare. The merger’s finalisation elevates Sunshine Healthcare as Sri Lanka’s first fully
integrated healthcare company, starting from manufacturing up to retailing healthcare
products, including last-mile distribution across the country for all healthcare products. The
company will be now operating in all five segments of the healthcare supply chain, namely
research and development (R&D), manufacturing, importation, distribution and retail.
Commenting on the occasion, Sunshine Healthcare Lanka Managing Director Shyam
Sathasivam said, “For Sunshine Healthcare to become Sri Lanka’s first end-to-end
healthcare company is a significant milestone. The merger helps us set up our cutting-edge
manufacturing capabilities in line with the Government’s objectives, which seeks to reduce
the country’s reliance on pharmaceutical imports, while creating a robust platform to provide
more skilled employment opportunities for the local talent pool.”
This merger will also enhance the pharmaceutical manufacturing capacity in the country with
both leading business groups working together to invest in this critical nation-building sector.
By combining their strengths, the merged healthcare business will be able to build further
manufacturing capacity as well as develop and scale up production of existing and new
molecules, work with regional pharma companies to drive tech transfers and overall increase
the local production of medicines as envisaged by His Excellency the President of Sri
Lanka’s Vision ‘Vistas of Prosperity and Splendour’.
