THE loss of more than 100 jobs at Waymade’s Basildon site marks a sad chapter in the 40- year life of a south Essex family business.

The company, led by Benfleet brothers Vijay and Bhikhu Patel, grew from a small pharmacy to a major employer with hundreds of staff.

With a sixth of that number about to be made redundant from the firm’s Miles Gray Road site this month, Waymade’s presence in the town will be a shadow of its former self and the whole company may soon disappear from Basildon altogether.

The brothers’ business empire started from humble beginnings, when Vijay Patel opened his first pharmacy, Chemys, in Leigh, in 1975.

From there, he opened a chain of branches across the south-east of England, launching Waymade with Bhikhu in 1984, supplying prescription drugs to chemists.

For the next 25 years, the company appeared to be an uninterrupted success story, as Waymade continued to expand.

In 2010, it began selling dental supplies and custom-made drugs, and moved on to a second site, a disused warehouse on the Burnt Mills Industrial Estate, also in Basildon.

The success of Waymade made the brothers extremely wealthy men. In April 2014, Vijay and Bhikhu were jointly listed at number 14 in the UK’s Asian Rich list, with a combined net worth of £615million.

At that stage, Waymade Healthcare had an estimated worth of £500million, though it was reported in June 2014 its revenue had fallen by £10million in the space of a single financial year.

In December, 2014, the brothers announced a significant proportion of the Waymade business was being transferred to another pharmaceutical company, the B&S Group. The similarities were striking.

Like the Patel brothers, B&S Group founder Samit Hathi had started his business from humble origins.

In Mr Hathi’s case, he started out in a small shed in Park Royal, West London, with four staff in 1999.

It was announced the Patels were stepping aside to spend more time with their families, in particular their grandchildren.

The new owner had already taken over the distribution arm of Waymade and announced a major review of the business.

A statement issued in March this year said: “The review has indicated the productivity of some parts of B&S’s Basildon operation are not economically viable in their current form.”

After a consultation period, 30 staff left the Basildon business last month, with another 54 leaving the Miles Gray Road site on June 12. A further 45 job losses are expected before the end of this month, leaving about 105 staff in Basildon.

Waymade managing director Brian Wyatt has said some staff might transfer to B&S Group sites in West London, but has also said he was unsure if the Basildon site had any future.

He explained: “Once the work and production for packing and distribution has finished here, B&S will have until the end of the year to let us know if the company wants to use our site for some of the packing process.”

The decline of such a prominent Basildon business has come as a major blow to the town.

Basildon Council leader Phil Turner said: “I would have liked to see the parts of the company be sold to somebody who could find a future for Waymade in Basildon.”