Sri Lanka insulin factory in Koggala is built and targets first output in 2027

Sri Lanka's health ministry says the country's first insulin plant is built and waiting for validation. The Sri Lanka insulin factory, run by Premium International Injectable (Pvt) Ltd in the Koggala Export Processing Zone near Galle, cost more than Rs. 3 billion and is expected to start production in 2027. It is a joint venture with the state drug maker, which has signed a 15 year supply agreement.

What the ministry announced about Koggala

The figures come from the Ministry of Health and were carried by Newswire on October 19, 2026, two days after Health and Mass Media Minister Nalinda Jayatissa toured the site. According to the ministry, construction is complete and output is due next year, once the validation work that any new sterile plant needs has been finished. The investment is put at more than Rs. 3 billion, with no breakdown between building, equipment and working capital. The operator is Premium International Injectable (Pvt) Ltd, and the plant stands in the Koggala Export Processing Zone in the Galle district on the southern coast. No figure for annual output, number of filling lines or headcount was given in the ministry account, so the capacity of the line is not yet public.

Insulin is the headline product but not the only one. The ministry said the factory also plans to make anaesthetic drugs, painkillers and other medicines, with a long term goal of 33 product types. A follow up item on Newswire a day later, written around the company's own statements, described the facility as built to European standards inside a Board of Investment zone. It said the plant is meant for biotechnology based insulin and generic small volume parenterals, meaning injectables given in small amounts, and that it is geared to seek EU GMP certification from a national authority in a member state. Managing director Thushira Raddella said the company sees room to add "additional product strengths, doses and formulations in response to market requirements."

A joint venture with the state drug maker

The commercial base for the plant is a state contract. The Sri Lanka insulin factory is being set up as a joint venture with the State Pharmaceuticals Manufacturing Corporation, known as SPMC, and a 15 year supply agreement is already in place, according to the ministry. That gives the operator a long purchase commitment from the public side before the first validated batch exists. The ministry added that the company intends to export once local demand is covered. Neither the ministry nor the company has said what share of the venture SPMC holds, what volumes the supply contract covers, or how prices will be set over the 15 years.

That gives the operator a long purchase commitment from the public side before the first validated batch exists.

SPMC is also being positioned as an exporter. Jayatissa said talks are under way to supply medicines to the Maldives through the corporation, and that requests have come from other countries, including Timor-Leste. Those remarks were about the state maker in general, not about insulin from Koggala in particular, and no export volumes were named. The EU GMP goal matters for that plan. A plant inspected and certified by a European authority can sell into far more markets than one approved only at home, but the company has not said which member state authority it will approach or when an inspection might happen. Until then, the export talk is an intention rather than a contract.

Import dependence and the supply case

The minister framed the plant as part of a ten year push to cut medicine imports. He said Sri Lanka imports around 85 to 90 percent of the medicines its hospital system needs, while locally made products cover only 10 to 15 percent. He also said the government has met about 96 percent of hospital drug requirements, but still struggles to buy 37 medicines because there are not enough suppliers. Local production, he argued, would save foreign exchange and could earn export income. For insulin, which hospitals and patients need without breaks, a domestic source would shorten the supply chain, although the ministry did not say how much of national insulin demand the plant could meet.

The ministry account of the plant was published by a local news site, and the table above sticks to what it and the company follow up stated. It is a small project by the standards of the large insulin and GLP 1 builds tracked on this site, such as Novo Nordisk's DKK 42 billion Kalundborg plan. Its interest for insulin manufacturing lies elsewhere: it is one of several attempts by smaller markets to own at least part of the injectable chain. A similar logic runs through Kilitch Drugs, which plans a new pen site with GLP 1 work funded by an asset sale in Africa.

What is still unknown about the insulin process

The biggest open question is which steps of insulin making happen in Koggala. Insulin active ingredient is usually produced by recombinant fermentation in microbes, followed by several purification stages, a process covered in our explainer on yeast or resin routes for peptide drugs. Many newer insulin plants in smaller markets instead buy finished insulin crystals and handle formulation, sterile filling and packing. The phrase biotechnology based insulin does not settle which model applies here. The company has not named an ingredient supplier, a technology partner or the insulin types it plans to make, whether human insulin or analogues, vials or pens.

Licensing is the other gap. The ministry said production will follow validation, but it did not say whether the National Medicines Regulatory Authority has inspected the plant or registered any product from it. EU GMP certification, if pursued, would add a separate inspection on a separate timeline. Readers should treat 2027 as a ministry expectation rather than a fixed start. What can be checked so far is limited to the investment figure, the site, the joint venture with SPMC and the supply agreement. Capacity, process scope and first product will show whether the Sri Lanka insulin factory changes supply beyond a single national hospital system.

Conclusion

The Sri Lanka insulin factory at Koggala is built, backed by more than Rs. 3 billion and a 15 year SPMC supply agreement, and due to start production in 2027 after validation. It also plans anaesthetics and other injectables. Whether it makes insulin ingredient or fills imported material, how much it can produce and when regulators clear it are still open.