At 83, Pharm. Isaac Otieku-Boadu has added another defining chapter to a career that has touched pharmaceutical manufacturing, entrepreneurship, professional leadership, regional cooperation and the financial empowerment of pharmacists. He was named recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award, the Kwabena Ohene-Manu Award, at the second edition of the PSGH Pharma Excellence Awards, held on 25 September 2026 in Accra as part of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana’s 90th Anniversary celebrations.

The honour is one of the most distinguished recognitions at the Pharma Excellence Awards and, unlike the competitive categories, is not open to public nomination or judges’ scoring. The recipient is selected by the Standing Executive Committee of PSGH in recognition of exceptional, sustained contribution to pharmacy and the pharmaceutical sector. The 2026 awards night featured 24 awards plus the Lifetime Achievement Award, with Otieku-Boadu singled out for what PSGH described as a remarkable life dedicated to pharmacy, professional leadership, pharmaceutical manufacturing, entrepreneurship, institutional development and the welfare of pharmacists.

A career that followed Ghanaian pharmacy as it grew

Born on 3 December 1942 and hailing from Akyem Apedwa in the Eastern Region, Otieku-Boadu trained at KNUST, earning his Bachelor of Pharmacy between 1967 and 1970 before completing a Master of Pharmacy in Pharmacognosy. He later served as an Assistant Lecturer in the Department of Pharmacognosy at KNUST.

But academia was only one part of his story.

At a time when Ghana’s pharmaceutical manufacturing base was still developing, he worked with Palafco Ghana Limited, contributing to the establishment of a manufacturing unit for liquid pharmaceutical preparations. His professional development also took him to Poland, Denmark and Switzerland for exposure to pharmaceutical production and practice. He later moved into management and entrepreneurship, serving as Manager of GNTC Pharmacy at Ghana House before establishing Ronasam Pharmaceuticals, which he operated from 1981 to 1992, and later Boadu & Sons from 1993 to 2008. His career therefore mirrors a wider transformation in Ghanaian pharmacy: from a profession centred largely on dispensing to one increasingly defined by manufacturing, business, specialisation and institutional leadership.

Helping hold PSGH together in a difficult moment

One of the less visible but historically significant chapters of Otieku-Boadu’s career came early.

In 1974, he was appointed Assistant Secretary of PSGH at a time of considerable internal disagreement within the Society. Following the impeachment of then-President Pharm. Victor Aidoo, he served as Secretary to a five-member reconciliation committee chaired by Prof. Albert Nee Tackie. The committee helped bring opposing factions together and restore unity within the Society, placing the young pharmacist at the centre of an important episode in PSGH’s institutional history. Two years later, he was part of a six-member PSGH delegation to Monrovia, Liberia, that participated in the establishment of the West Africa Pharmaceutical Federation, strengthening professional cooperation across the sub-region.

A legacy pharmacists can bank on

Perhaps one of the most enduring expressions of his legacy can still be seen today.

In 1985, during PSGH’s 50th Anniversary year, Otieku-Boadu became one of the central figures behind the establishment of the Ghana Co-operative Pharmacists Credit Union Limited, an initiative designed to improve the financial wellbeing and cooperative strength of pharmacists. The Credit Union’s own history identifies Isaac Otieku-Boadu among its founding team, serving as Secretary alongside the other pioneers who established the institution.

It is perhaps this capacity to build things that survived beyond his own tenure businesses, professional structures and financial institutions, that gives the award particular resonance.

Following Abraham Gyesie

Otieku-Boadu becomes the second recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award at the PSGH Pharma Excellence Awards. At the maiden edition in April 2025, the Kwabena Ohene-Manu Award went to Pharm. Abraham Gyesie, who was recognised after more than four decades of service spanning pharmaceutical care, business, policy advocacy, public health education and community service.

Gyesie, also a Fellow of PSGH, built a career across pharmaceutical marketing, entrepreneurship, consultancy and health advocacy, including extensive work to strengthen the practice of over-the-counter medicine sellers and improve access to safer healthcare in underserved communities.

The award itself bears the name of Kwabena Ohene-Manu, a former PSGH President and major figure in Ghanaian and West African pharmacy, giving the honour an added historical significance.