The company plans to expand injectable drug production capacity, especially for cephalosporins, which are among the top antibiotics in Romania by usage. The Iasi-based company is the market leader on this product segment, but uses facilities rented from third parties for the manufacturing process.
“Our plan is to reach 470 million lei (over EUR100 million) revenue in five years. To do that, we need shareholders to leave dividends with us to be reinvested,” said Ioan Nani, chief executive officer of Antibiotice, on ZF Live.
“A company cannot be capitalized without the help of shareholders and the capital market, where only 47% in our company is traded.”
Antibiotice posted RON320 million sales and RON31 million profit last year. The government via the Health Ministry owns 53% in it, and the market capitalization stands at RON391 million.
Another development option Antibiotice is considering is buying another company, for which it should secure funding from the Ministry’s sale of some of its Antibiotice stake, Nani added.
“I think the government should continue to list some of the 53%, to attract shareholders with financial potential with whom to do this expansion. We’ve had very interesting talks with the EBRD and the World Bank to come up with development plans and become our shareholders.”
The company also seeks to expand its production of nystatin, an antifungal medication, a segment where Antibiotice is world-leading producer. The company has been selling it in the US, too, since 2000.
“We have about 45% of the world nystatin market left to cover so we need to develop and retool that production site,” Ioan Nani said.
The strategy of the drug producer is to increase export contribution to total sales from the current 30%. Penetrating foreign markets is difficult because pharmaceutical markets are heavily regulated in developed countries and local authorities require drug efficacy studies before clearing new products for sale on their respective markets.
“We want to export to Canada, we’ve got two wholesalers that want to register our products there, we’ve already negotiated them as targets for the next few years. The Canadian authorities want clinical trials. To do such one such trial in Canada would cost us $1.5 million. Romania does not have a very clear legislation about clinical trials.”
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)