Biopharma pharmaceutical company intends to fulfill its annual production plan through large orders in the fourth quarter, co-owner of the company Kostiantyn Yefymenko has said during the presentation of the study “Portrait of a Ukrainian Entrepreneur” conducted by the Union of Ukrainian Entrepreneurs together with UMG with the support of Cipe.
“COVID-19 hit our business very seriously. We allocated UAH 15 million for humanitarian aid – we helped the Public Health Center and installed a laboratory for PCR and EIA diagnostics. We have already spent about UAH 10 million for the purchase of personal protective equipment and payment for our employees, work from home,” he said.
“Our business in April-June fell in total, I think, by 50%. After all, we produce hospital drugs. In Ukraine, virtually all operations except urgent ones were closed. We also suffered losses in a number of export regions. Now, since September, it is actually the first month our business has resumed, and we see large orders for the fourth quarter. In fact, for the fourth quarter we need to do what we did in six months and therefore we plan to fulfill the annual plans at our enterprises. The Tribo group of companies, I think, will lose 20% of proceeds in dollars. We are preparing for difficult times, preparing reserves,” the expert added.
In addition, Yefymenko noted that Biopharma plans to occupy 5% of the market for production of drugs from donor plasma in five years.
“We want to process one million liters of plasma within five years, we want to occupy 5% of the world market. Our mission is to bring the availability of protein therapy to developing countries. For this, we want to build plasma centers in at least four countries of the world as we are only in Ukraine now. If we are talking about plans for the next ten years, we have a task to build two more plants on two continents. To occupy about 10-12% of the world market and from 13 companies that are engaged in fractionation of blood plasma in the world (the company ranks 12th), we want to enter the seven, that is, we must be a company with a turnover of at least $750 million,” he said.
Synevo Laboratory has launched a specialized COVID center in Kyiv to conduct a complex of research on COVID-19, investments in it exceeded EUR 300,000.
According to a press release from the company, the Synevo COVID Center includes a high-tech laboratory for performing COVID-19 tests by PCR, as well as a specially equipped department for customer service and sampling for coronavirus disease research.
“The COVID-19 epidemic is gaining momentum, and the demand for mass testing of the population is growing every day. Given the expected scale of testing, we have decided to open a specialized COVID center with a separate laboratory that will specialize exclusively in PCR testing for COVID-19,” Mykola Butenko, the director for development at Synevo, said.
The company plans to soon launch PCR testing in other branches throughout Ukraine.
“For now, the test can be passed in the COVID center in Kyiv. It is located at 2/58 Pivnichna Street. But, very soon, we plan to launch testing in most branches throughout Ukraine,” press secretary of the company Viktoria Ilinska said on Facebook.
PCR testing for COVID-19 at the Synevo COVID center will be performed using reagents from BAG Diagnostics (Germany).
In addition, from November, Synevo plans to launch tests on automatic equipment and reagents from Abbott (the United States).
There is no shortage of ventilators for patients with COVID-19 in hospitals, new ventilators will be purchased for reference hospitals, Health Minister Maksym Stepanov said.
“To date, 372 ventilators out of almost 4,000 that are available are involved in the treatment of patients with COVID-19. The devices that we are purchasing today will go to reference hospitals, emergency rooms, children,” he said on air during the “Svoboda Slova” (Freedom of Speech) program on Monday night.
Stepanov said that the Ministry of Health “does not have the task to write off funds from the treasury account as soon as possible.”
“Funds for ventilators were indeed allocated in May, appropriate procedures were launched, contracts have already been signed, we are waiting for the delivery of ventilators,” he said.
Stepanov reported that the task is “to buy modern equipment for 210 reference hospitals”. Funds for these purchases were transferred in July.
“This will be modern equipment that will work effectively, we are talking about CT, angiographs, other equipment. Now the procurement procedure is underway, the proposals and corresponding delivery dates have already been disclosed. According to the terms of agreement, funds are debited [from the treasury account], including after delivery. Therefore, there is nothing to talk about,” he said.
The competition committee of the Ukrainian Startup Fund according to the results of the 13th Pitch Day has defined three more startups, which will be considered by the supervisory board and approved for a grant of $50,000, the press service of the fund reports on Facebook.
In total, ten projects took part in the pitching, of which three projects at the seed stage became the winners, scoring 15 points or more:
– a platform that allows hospitality companies to automate voice communications with clients using the artificial intelligence Outloud.ai (20.7 points);
– the Esper Bionics startup, developing the next generation of hand prostheses and a cloud platform as a service that teaches prostheses the user’s habits, improving management (20 points);
– the online application for organic development and monetization of social media profiles IGnation (15.3 points).
The funds will be transferred after the relevant decision of the fund’s supervisory board.
In general, as of October 2020, there are 2,178 applications.
The Ukrainian Startup Fund is a state fund established at the initiative of the Cabinet of Ministers. Its purpose is to provide financing to technology companies in the early stages of development (pre-seed and seed).
Volume of construction products produced by type in Jan-July of 2020 (MLN UAH).
Source: SSC of Ukraine
National bank of Ukraine’s official rates as of 06/10/20
Source: National Bank of Ukraine
