Elevating the Standard for Health and Wellness

Viva Pharmaceutical
Written by Jessica Ferlaino

Viva Pharmaceutical Inc. is the largest and most dynamic manufacturer of pharmaceutical and natural health care products in British Columbia, Canada. The company has over twenty years of experience bringing together carefully selected raw materials that are guaranteed to be of the highest quality to formulate extensively tested health and wellness solutions.
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Founded in 1994 by Jason Ko, a pharmacist with immense knowledge and experience, Viva Pharmaceutical has become a leader in the contract manufacturing and private labelling market. It also has own line of branded natural health care supplements: Viva Nutraceuticals.

The company manufactures softgels, tablets, hard shell capsules, liquids, creams, granular and powder formulations. Products include ethical and over the counter drugs, natural and herbal products, vitamins, minerals, food and nutritional supplements, as well as cosmetics.

From its strategic location on the West Coast of Canada, Viva Pharmaceutical is positioned to take full advantage of the connectivity of the area’s rail, marine, highway and international air infrastructure to reach markets across North America and worldwide.

The company takes great pride in its cutting-edge, 125,000-square-foot facility, comprised of three state-of-the-art buildings that are in strict compliance with Health Canada’s Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), making it the ideal partner for many that rely on its turnkey solutions. Viva Pharmaceutical can source raw materials of exceptional standards.

Viva also has extensive testing and quality control processes thanks to its in-house laboratories that monitor microbiology, analytical chemistry and regulatory compliance. It is committed to research and development for new formulations and new technologies and offers end-to-end packaging and shipping capabilities.

By controlling quality and safety at every step of the process, Viva Pharmaceutical can assure its customers of the product’s efficacy and purity. Its products offer quality by design, a careful balance between trailblazing drug formulation technology and engineered manufacturing techniques.

“There are so many different suppliers that may provide fake materials that may even have a good-looking certificate of analysis, but the material might not be the right material or the highest quality. Third-party labs run testing for clients, but sometimes they don’t have the correct validated method to run testing, especially on the finished product,” Manager and Vice-President of Sale David Ko explained.

“We can guarantee our material because we are using our own in-house lab to run testing. We do that validation of the testing method to make sure all the material follows U.S. and European pharmacopeia. We even work with hospitals and universities to do some clinical studies as well.” Research and development activities are ongoing with area hospitals and universities to provide scientific and clinical testing and support.

Viva Pharmaceutical can manufacture forty million soft gels, twenty-five million tablets and eight million hard shell capsules every day. It also produced two thousand tons of liquid and eight hundred tons of cream products each year.

Viva has secured patents for its cold and flu product, its water-soluble amino chelates minerals, chewable soft gels and its plant extract compositions for its sleep aid “InsoZia”. InsoZia is patented in the U.S., Europe, China, Hong Kong and Macau. Other branded products include Eyestonia for vision health, Liveria for liver health and ProsTac for prostate health.

Viva is dedicated to the using the purest materials and the safest processes to deliver real value through improved health and wellness. “We are not willing to sacrifice our quality to match the extremely low prices from other vendors, and so we try to work with customers who respect our work and are willing to pay reasonable prices for a high quality product. Cheap prices often mean a low-quality product,” noted Ko. He said that quality and efficacy will never be compromised because the company knows that its reputation is on the line.

“Sometimes customers may look for a cheaper price but it can affect the product efficacy or the quality of the product, and we never want to compromise the quality. We have a high-quality product, and that’s why customers continue to buy from us for years and years,” said Ko.

While it cannot always compete on price, Viva Pharmaceutical takes pride in knowing that it is offering the premier standard of quality in the industry. It has been audited by Health Canada in accordance with GMP, as well as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and its products are certified Halal. Compliance is an area that Viva Pharmaceutical does not take lightly.

“We do microbiological testing, heavy metal testing, chemical testing to make sure the safety, quality and efficacy of materials,” explained Ko. “Regulations in Canada are very strict compared to other countries.

“We have both a pharmaceutical license to manufacture pharmaceuticals and natural supplements using pharmaceutical standards, so we make a very high-quality product for our customers,” said Ko, noting that the focus has primarily been on the natural health product and supplement side of the business as of late.

Behind the scenes are more than two hundred employees, a team that has grown since the early days when there were only twenty. Employees are qualified, well-trained professionals, many of whom hold graduate, post-graduate and doctorate degrees. The longstanding employees at Viva Pharmaceutical have greatly contributed to the company’s steady and consistent growth.

“The employees are Viva’s biggest asset. We treat our employees as family. We have employees who have worked here for more than twenty years, some with ten to fifteen years of experience with the company. Not only do they bring with them great knowledge and experience from school and prior companies, they continue to learn and improve their skills and knowledge,” explained Ko.

Viva Pharmaceutical’s mission is to develop and produce pharmaceutical and natural health products of the highest quality, using science, technology and state of the art equipment to improve manufacturing processes. The team at Viva Pharmaceutical is always researching to identify new formulations and opportunities to better serve the company’s customers across Canada, the U.S., and the world.

Viva Pharmaceutical works to support the community. Over the last five years, more than $5 million has been donated to local hospitals and charities such as the Vancouver General Hospital, BC Children’s Hospital, BC Women’s Hospital, Liver Foundation, Red Cross and more.

Viva Pharmaceutical’s CEO, Owner and Founder Jason Ko was awarded the Governor General’s Diamond Jubilee Medal for his outstanding commitment to community and charity, making the company a leader in more ways than one.

Even though Viva Pharmaceutical is behind the success of some of the industry’s biggest and most recognizable players, it still has work to do to gain the trust of the everyday consumer who may not understand the value that is contained within each of its branded offerings.

“Viva is always behind the scenes making product for our customers and now we are bringing our own branded product to market. Viva is not too well known on the consumer side or by retailers so we will continue to do our part to let them know we offer a quality product. It’s a long way for consumers to recognize our branded product and to know Viva, but it’s a challenge we are undertaking,” said Ko. He hopes to continue to grow its marketing and sales capacities to support the growing recognition of its own brand.

While it does its part to increase exposure for Viva Nutraceuticals, it continues to develop new formulations and expand its product lines, educating customers and building a name for itself on the retail side of the business just as it has in as a contract manufacturer and private labeler in the pharmaceutical industry.

Efforts are also being made to improve its manufacturing processes through investments in technology and automation. This will further improve the speed at which Viva Pharmaceutical can manufacture products while ensuring safety and consistency throughout the process.

Its research and development team focuses on developing products with little to no side effects, as well as conducting continuous testing and clinical studies for ongoing projects. The company aims to advance its diabetic, cancer, insomnia and influenza research, as well as further analysis of age-related macular degeneration, liver function, stroke prevention, prostate health and much more.

Through continued research, development and innovation, Viva Pharmaceutical is on a journey to provide the natural health products of the highest quality and efficacy that are founded in science and proven to be effective, safe and a part of maintaining customers’ health and wellbeing for its customers.

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