KIT
COMPANY PROFILE
BHR PHARMACEUTICALS
P
ne of the directors of
BHR Pharmaceuticals
Ltd, Ramesh Patel, has
a particular interest in
diabetes care, as he
has Type 1 diabetes. The other company
director, Bharat Vadukul, also has an
interest as he has Type 2 diabetes. BHR
stands for British Health Research. The
company mainly sells and distributes
diagnostic products for use in the home as
well as at GP surgeries, but the company
is also involved in research projects at the
University of Warwick, the University of
Birmingham and Chester Hospital.
Patel qualified with a degree in
pharmacology in 1981 from Portsmouth.
It was in 1981 that he was diagnosed with
Type I diabetes, at the age of 25. He had
picked up a viral infection while on a visit to
Zambia and soon after his return he lost a
lot of weight and went to the doctors. He
recalls, "The GP just looked at me and told
me to go to hospital. The consultant at the
hospital said I was ketotic, didn't even test
me, and put me straight on insulin. Back
then, no one taught you to count carbs, I
wasn't told anything about diet except not
to eat sugary foods. I was given a blue box
that contained a glass syringe and steel
needles. I started on Insulatard, just one
injection a day. I immediately started to feel
better and stayed on that single injection
regime for many years, it was all I needed
for a long while."
After graduating, Patel started to work
in some of the bigger pharmaceutical
companies. He and co-director Bharat
Vadukul were both regional managers
for Shire Pharmaceuticals - a British start
up. In 1990 they decided to work for
themselves and so BHR was born. They
began with just two tests, one of which
was a test for pregnancy, the other was a
urine test that could indicate a range of 10
parameters, including proteins, ketones,
glucose and nitrates. It's a product that
they still sell today. "We have added a
new product every year since then,"
says Patel, "Most of which we still sell.
However, one or two have gone, as they
became antiques."
Home diagnostics
While they started on the diagnostic side,
there was also a personal interest. Says
Patel, "Sometimes I have seen products
that I thought could help with my own
control, but I also saw the opportunity for
improving diabetes control with diagnostic
devices either at GP level or for individuals
in the home."
In 1999 the pair came across the first
version of the CardioChek, their current
cholesterol testing device, at an exhibition
in Düsseldorf, Germany. Patel says, "We
took that on for GPs to be able to test
easily for cholesterol and it helped us to
slowly grow the business. By 2003, when
statins became an over-the-counter
product, one of the big pharmacy groups
thought it could be a good idea to test BHR founder and
director, Ramesh Patel
people in pharmacies for their cholesterol
levels and would then offer a statin if they
were found to have raised levels. Today
BHR has around 9000 CardioChek
units in place in surgeries, hospitals,
occupational health departments and
pharmacies in the UK, making it the No.1
product for heart health tests in primary
care. Government health checks are
indicated for people between the ages
of 40-to-74 and GPs and pharmacies
can use this to test for Total and HDL
cholesterol, triglycerides, calculate the
LDL cholesterol as well as the CHO/
HDL cholesterol ratio, which is then used
in cardiovascular risk assessment tools
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