“The most important investment to begin this year is a new ointment and suppository production facility. This investment became a requirement because of our need to expand production capacity and diversify presentation for such pharmaceutical forms,” said Ioan Nani, general manager of Antibiotice Iasi.
“The diversification will allow Antibiotice products to reach markets that require such packaging types.”
The project of the company in Iasi, which is the 12th largest pharmaceutical company in the country, according to first quarter data from market research company Cegedim Romania, is part of a more extensive investment program set to last until 2020.
The investments in Iasi are among the few being made in the pharmaceutical industry, a sector experiencing the first closure of a large production facility, as UK’s GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) announced it would pull the plug on the plant in Brasov after failing to find a buyer for it.
Romania is a net importer of drugs, since local production barely covers 20% of the EUR2.7 billion market. No local producer can take on multinationals, considering the market leader, Terapia Ranbaxy ‘s revenue stands at EUR113 million while Antibiotice with its EUR72 million revenue is the third largest in its line of business and could climb to second place after the departure of Glaxo from Brasov. Antibiotice is currently employing 1,400 people.
Ointments, creams and gels accounted for 15% of Antibiotice’s production last year, while suppositories for 8%, according to the company’s annual report. Capsule production stood at` almost one quarter of the total.
“The new production facility will make both new products and already existing ones, with one line dedicated to ointments, gels and creams and two to rectal and vaginal suppositories,” Ioan Nani added.
Production capacity of (eye) ointments stood at 7 million of tubes a year in 2013, according to the company’s annual report. The producer was the market leader on the ointment, suppository and injectable powders segments with a share of 28.4%, 41.3% and 73.9%, according to the same source.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)