[Women’s History Month] Meet Dr Amina Odidi, inventor of once a day drug delivery system

March is the Women’s History Month celebrated globally to highlight the contributions of women to events in history and contemporary society. The month corresponds with the International Women’s Day which is marked globally on March 8.

As part of Face2Face Africa’s commitment to informing and connecting black people around the world, we have resolved to devote each day of the month of March to celebrate black women inventors and to highlight their inventions.

Dr. Amina Isa Odidi is changing the face of pharmaceuticals. She is the co-founder of Intellipharmaceutics, an innovative drug delivery system.

The technology allows patients to take a drug once instead of many times a day, making it easier for them to manage and comply with doctors’ orders. She has also invented and co-invented various proprietary controlled delivery devices for the delivery of nutriceutical, biological, agricultural and chemical agents.

In 1998, Dr. Amina Odidi co-founded Intellipharmaceutics Inc., the predecessor of publicly-traded Intellipharmaceutics International Inc. Dr. Odidi has been President, COO, and Co-Chief Scientist since 1998.

Along side her husband, Isa Odidi, Odidi develops and applies proprietary technologies to the development of controlled-release drug products for third-party pharmaceutical companies.

Dr. Odidi holds a B.Sc. in Pharmacy, an M.S. in Biopharmaceutics, and a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutics from the University of London. She has worked in both the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry and has co-authored eight articles, papers and textbooks.

She met her husband and business partner in a university classroom in Nigeria in 1976. Two students from humble beginnings, they decided to study abroad, eventually settling in Canada where they also raised five children.

In 2010, the couple was asked to ring the opening bell at the Nasdaq stock exchange in New York on the first anniversary of their company going public,

On working with her husband, Dr. Odidi says, “we complement each other. He is into equipment, I am into biopharmacy — what actually happens to the drug when you take it in the human body. So we have complementary skills.”

Dr Odidi says she’s driven to impact, explaining, “That’s what gives me the satisfaction. Making a difference, not just growing the company, but making these products available to the populace, to the market”.