Archive image of boxes of tablets coming off the production line at a Neopharma plant in Mussafah. The company opened its first plant in 2003 and now has three in the area employing about 600 people, as well as operations in 10 countries around the world. Philip Cheung / The National
Archive image of boxes of tablets coming off the production line at a Neopharma plant in Mussafah. The company opened its first plant in 2003 and now has three in the area employing about 600 people, as well as operations in 10 countries around the world. Philip Cheung / The National
Archive image of boxes of tablets coming off the production line at a Neopharma plant in Mussafah. The company opened its first plant in 2003 and now has three in the area employing about 600 people, as well as operations in 10 countries around the world. Philip Cheung / The National
Archive image of boxes of tablets coming off the production line at a Neopharma plant in Mussafah. The company opened its first plant in 2003 and now has three in the area employing about 600 people,

BR Shetty’s Neopharma continues operations despite lack of access to funds


Michael Fahy
  • English
  • Arabic

BR Shetty’s Neopharma pharmaceutical business is continuing operations as normal, despite a freeze on the company's bank accounts due to the ongoing tribulations faced by its founder, the director of plant operations at the firm said.

Suresh Pai, who was Mr Shetty’s first employee when Neopharma was set up in 2002, said “morale is very high” among its workers despite the fact that salaries have not been paid.

“We are performing as normal,” Mr Pai, who now oversees three factories employing about 600 people, said. “Production is going on as usual ... sustained supplies have to be maintained for the market at this time of medical crisis.”

Mr Shetty told The National in an interview this week that the freezing of his bank accounts has had a knock-on effect on other parts of the business, meaning he had been unable to pay salaries at Neopharma. On Thursday, Bloomberg reported that the company was in talks with lenders to restructure Dh1 billion in debt, which could involve bringing in a new strategic investor. Mr Pai said he had no knowledge of the discussions with lenders.

Neopharma began operations from a single factory in 2003 and now has a capacity to produce 2 billion pills from its three plants in Mussafah, Abu Dhabi. The company carries out contract manufacturing of medicines for giants including global Abbott Laboratories, GlaxoSmithKline and Merck as well as generic drugs that are no longer under patent protection. It produces anti-infection drugs like levofloxacin and azithromycin that are used to treat Covid-19 patients.

The company is continuing to receive orders, Mr Pai said. As a pharmaceutical firm, it has emergency management and business continuity plans in place to ensure it has enough materials to continue production for six to eight months.

“If it continues for a longer period of time, then maybe we will be in a little difficult position. But I am sure that it [the bank account] is going to get released soon and hopefully we are back in action.”

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2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups

Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.

Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.

Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.

Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).

Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.

Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.

Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.

Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.

Key facilities
  • Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
  • Premier League-standard football pitch
  • 400m Olympic running track
  • NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
  • 600-seat auditorium
  • Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
  • An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
  • Specialist robotics and science laboratories
  • AR and VR-enabled learning centres
  • Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Airev
Started: September 2023
Founder: Muhammad Khalid
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: Generative AI
Initial investment: Undisclosed
Investment stage: Series A
Investors: Core42
Current number of staff: 47
 
Visit Abu Dhabi culinary team's top Emirati restaurants in Abu Dhabi

Yadoo’s House Restaurant & Cafe

For the karak and Yoodo's house platter with includes eggs, balaleet, khamir and chebab bread.

Golden Dallah

For the cappuccino, luqaimat and aseeda.

Al Mrzab Restaurant

For the shrimp murabian and Kuwaiti options including Kuwaiti machboos with kebab and spicy sauce.

Al Derwaza

For the fish hubul, regag bread, biryani and special seafood soup. 

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The Outsider

Stephen King, Penguin

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Studying addiction

This month, Dubai Medical College launched the Middle East’s first master's programme in addiction science.

Together with the Erada Centre for Treatment and Rehabilitation, the college offers a two-year master’s course as well as a one-year diploma in the same subject.

The move was announced earlier this year and is part of a new drive to combat drug abuse and increase the region’s capacity for treating drug addiction.

Most F1 world titles

7 — Michael Schumacher (1994, ’95, 2000, ’01 ’02, ’03, ’04)

7 — Lewis Hamilton (2008, ’14,’15, ’17, ’18, ’19, ’20)

5 — Juan Manuel Fangio (1951, ’54, ’55, ’56, ’57)

4 — Alain Prost (1985, ’86, ’89, ’93)

4 — Sebastian Vettel (2010, ’11, ’12, ’13)

EPL's youngest
  • Ethan Nwaneri (Arsenal)
    15 years, 181 days old
  • Max Dowman (Arsenal)
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  • Harvey Elliott (Fulham)
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Red flags
  • Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
  • Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
  • Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
  • Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
  • Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.

Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching

The specs
 
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
Jawan
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Jetour T1 specs

Engine: 2-litre turbocharged

Power: 254hp

Torque: 390Nm

Price: From Dh126,000

Available: Now

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Company%20Profile
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IF YOU GO
 
The flights: FlyDubai offers direct flights to Catania Airport from Dubai International Terminal 2 daily with return fares starting from Dh1,895.
 
The details: Access to the 2,900-metre elevation point at Mount Etna by cable car and 4x4 transport vehicle cost around €57.50 (Dh248) per adult. Entry into Teatro Greco costs €10 (Dh43). For more go to www.visitsicily.info

 Where to stay: Hilton Giardini Naxos offers beachfront access and accessible to Taormina and Mount Etna. Rooms start from around €130 (Dh561) per night, including taxes.

Conflict, drought, famine

Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.

Band Aid

Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.

The specs

AT4 Ultimate, as tested

Engine: 6.2-litre V8

Power: 420hp

Torque: 623Nm

Transmission: 10-speed automatic

Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)

On sale: Now