Leeds-based Rosemont Pharmaceuticals plans to grow by acquisition as it saves lives

Rosemont Pharmaceuticals was established in Leeds in 1967 by two pharmacists who were concerned about the lack of liquid medicines available for their patients who couldn’t swallow tablets.

For 56 years, the company has continued to bring liquid medicines to the market and campaigned on behalf of vulnerable patients with swallowing difficulties. In 1974, the company’s first liquid medicine was granted a license. It has continued to invest in research and development, developing more medicines in a liquid format, to support both healthcare professionals and their patients.

“The groups we serve tend to be the more vulnerable. Some patients, such as the young, elderly, or vulnerable will always struggle to take tablets,” said Howard Taylor, the company’s CEO. “A liquid is much easier to take; although getting a product that was designed to be a tablet into a palatable form as a liquid can be a challenge.”

It’s a challenge the Rosemont team in Leeds is happy to embrace. Mr Taylor, who has been Rosemont’s CEO since 2020, studied chemistry at university and has watched many of his peers go on to become professors. After graduating, Mr Taylor was keen to travel and work in business, so he joined Procter & Gamble. He has spent half his career living abroad.

After starting out as a sales rep based in Birmingham, he rose through the ranks to become the sales and operational manager for the Netherlands with P&G. His career journey later took him to Rotterdam, Frankfurt, Geneva and Munich. His time in Germany provided him with an insight into an ownership model in the pharmacy sector which is rarely found in Britain.

He said: “Most pharmacies in the UK are part of a large pharmacy group, but this is not the case in other parts of western Europe. In Germany for example, there is a legal limit which means one pharmacist can only own a maximum of six pharmacies. This means there is a relatively level playing field in Germany in terms of competition between pharmacies.

“In Britain, you could see one person in say, Nottingham, in connection with sales to hundreds of pharmacies. In Germany, you would send out 100 different sales people selling to different pharmacy owners.”

At Rosemont, his primary role has been to re-ignite some of the company’s growth plans, following the company’s acquisition by private equity firm Inflexion in 2020.

“In Leeds, Rosemont has been a very reliable, high-quality business for many years,” he said. “Rosemont was a business that just needed love and care and the opportunity here ticked lots of boxes on a personal and professional level. The job has offered all the things I had hoped for and more.”

The new owners have invested in the business and been rewarded with strong results, said Mr Taylor.

He added: “We’re very proud of our 98 per cent customer service rate, which means that when pharmacists order a product from us, the product is nearly always delivered in the agreed time frame. This performance is significantly higher than the industry average.

“Leeds is an excellent base for distribution because we are so centrally located in the UK. We have opened a new lab on the same street as the factory so it is much easier for us to collaborate between departments.

"We employ 72 scientists in our quality control team out of our staff of 270 people,” he added. “Our annual turnover is now £110m, which is double what it was three years ago. Previously, we were part of a large corporation, so it was more difficult to focus solely on Rosemont. Now everybody reports into one person, which happens to be me, there is greater consistency and focus. There have been 10 product launches in the last few years and these launches, which in some cases have been in partnership with another company, have generated growth.

“Most of our income is from the UK, but most of our growth, going forward will be international. We have selected four key markets; the main one is the US, which has a large population and the advantage of dealing with a single regulator. The others are Canada, France and Germany and we already sell into 27 countries via partners.”

Some of the areas of growth could include providing liquids for dementia sufferers, who might need help to get the correct dosage, and gastrointestinal products for infants.

“We are aiming to double our turnover over the next four to five years,” he said. “We would like to buy a business in the US, France or Germany and are hoping to launch six new products a year.”

Around 40 per cent of the workforce have been with the company for less than two years, which is a sign of its rapid growth.

He added: “Leeds is a great catchment area for this diverse population and we have collaborated with researchers at the University of Leeds in helping patients with swallowing difficulties take their medicines.. We've also sponsored an art competition at Leeds University. The workforce is 45 per cent female and the gender pay gap is relatively small and we are determined to reduce it further.”

Above all else, Mr Taylor believes staff join Rosemont because they know they are transforming lives. He added: “At Rosemont, you can have a big impact because of the nature of what we do. A lot of people choose to work for us because they know we are producing products that save lives. That fills us with pride.”