British Dispensary
British Dispensary was established in 1892 in Bangkok, Thailand by Dr. Thomas Hayward Hays, introducing to the country the concept of a modern drugstore.
Dr. Luan, the ancestor of Vongvanij family, took over the drugstore in 1928 and expanded the business to be the authorized, sole distributors of many international brands opening in Thailand, such as Boots, Elizabeth Arden, Christian Dior and etc. In the meantime, Dr. Luan developed and researched various kinds of consumer products. In 1952 the company introduced “Prickly Heat”, a sort of flavored talcum powder to relieve the rash and skin irritation from humid, tropical climate. This product was the first Thai brand produced in Thailand that became very popular both in Thailand and abroad.
Later on British Dispensary began to research and develop various healthcare products from a new facility named “L.P. Standard Laboratories Co., Ltd.” Production of personal care and health care products was established in 1963 with international standards and GMP certification obtained since 1989.
The distribution sector of The British Dispensary merged with L.P. Standard Laboratories Co., Ltd. as a new company named “The British Dispensary (L.P.) Co., Ltd. with a registered capital of 60 million baht, to manage production, distribution, import and export. The company was certificated ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 in 1999 and was the first drugs and cosmetics manufacturer in Thailand to receive these two certificates at the same time.
For many years British Dispensary has been manufacturing a few oral steroids, openly marketed and sold in pharmacies throughout Thailand until about 2003. Afterwards, under pressure from US officials to discontinue production of steroids, the company outsourced manufacturing outside its premises, keeping packaging, logo and quality control exactly the same as before.
British Dispensary catalog is very small but all of the products are very well known worldwide since the 90’s. The pentagonal 5 mg pink tabs (pink anabol) are one of the most famous steroids in history, loved by bodybuilders from all over the world.