“We want production to reach 10% of turnover by 2015, when the volume reaches EUR13 million to EUR14 million. We budgeted 15 million lei (almost EUR3.5 million) for production this year and I think we will attain our targets,” Mihai Miron told ZF.
Ropharma, a company with retail, as well as distribution and production operations, expects turnover to reach RON431.5 million this year. It has a network of more than 110 retail pharmacies, one of the largest in the country.
Ropharma has a production facility in Targu Mures (north-central part of Romania) and one in the Republic of Moldova. Its brands are, according to the corporate website, Activit Imuno, Activit Fier, Lipopartin Forte, Septogal, all of which are nutritional supplements.
It hopes to launch five or six products this year made in Chisinau (Moldova) and Targu Mures and will focus on OTCs (non-prescription drugs) and not subsidized drugs because the segment is getting narrower and narrow and the competition increasingly fiercer, Miron said.
The businessman made a name for himself in the nineties when he developed drug producer Europharm Brasov, turned it into a top company and then sold it to GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). Miron then made a comeback with Ropharma. He devised the strategy for Europharm’s development from production to distribution and retail.
With Ropharma, he started with retail and distribution and then expanded into production. Therefore the retail pharmacy network generates almost three quarter of the revenue.
The businessman also decided to invest in private medical services along with other entrepreneurs last year and now owns 33% in Sf. Constantin (St. Constantine) hospital in Brasov (central Romania).
The growth of the revenue generated by the production operations will be organic, says Miron, who does not rule out potential acquisitions of small labs in the country.
Ropharma also sells products to Belarus, Uzbekistan and Hungary via distributors.
The drug market reached EUR2.55 billion last year, up 11.5% on 2010, according to market research company Cegedim. (EUR1=RON4.4053)
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)