Pharmaceutical companies at the global level will increase investment in innovation and support for a high level of quality of medicines, international expert in GMP Wolfgang Schumacher has said. “In the early 1990s there was rather a broad understanding of what quality is. Over the years, this understanding has become more formulated and detailed, supported by more stringent rules and regulatory government policies,” he told Interfax-Ukraine as part of a master class “Integrity of Data for Laboratories and Production” for employees of Farmak Pharmaceutical Company (Kyiv) involved in the pharmaceutical quality system.
According to the expert, now, due to the presence of an increasing number of regulatory requirements, the concept of “quality of medicines” is also becoming increasingly regulated. “Back in the 1990s, we could produce a quality product without having a large number of regulatory requirements, but in recent years the requirements have become more detailed. New regulatory documents are issued. New regulatory documents are about ten times larger than the previous ones,” he said.
At the same time, Schumacher stressed that increasing the number of regulatory requirements obliges pharmaceutical companies that comply with GMP standards to strengthen the training of new personnel in GMP, including those related to legislative requirements that are not specified in the documents. According to him, European pharmaceutical companies pay more attention to quality than, in particular, American companies, despite the fact that the U.S. market has more regulatory requirements.
“European pharmaceutical companies are most focused on quality products. The American market is more documented, with lower quality in its products. In the U.S. market the documentation and the process of documenting are better than in Europe, but in practice there is not everything as good as in Europe,” he said.
At the same time, the expert noted Farmak’s responsible approach to the issues of quality and innovation. “It is very noticeable that the Farmak team is dedicated to its work and very motivated, which is very good. The life of each company lies in its team,” the expert said. The expert also noted that small and medium-sized pharmaceutical companies are “more pragmatic in their approach to quality, while large companies very often follow the rules.”
According to the expert, priority investments in quality are “investments that help develop people, and “it is necessary to invest in the motivation of the team.” “I think that Ukraine will face the same problems that other countries faced as well. Attracting personnel will be more expensive than buying equipment,” he said. At the same time, the expert noted the high expenses for innovation that pharmaceutical companies have to bear.
The Interpipe international vertically integrated pipe and wheel company and the leading manufacturer of seamless pipe in Europe Vallourec (France) have announced its plans to start joint production of steel pipes for the European market. According to a press release of Interpipe issued on Wednesday, cooperation would not apply to oil and gas pipes. Mainly linear pipes, pipe for general use and products for engineering.
“Interpipe-made pipes will undergo finishing and quality control at the finish line, which will be built on the basis of Interpipe Niko Tube and will be managed by Vallourec. The line will be created within the joint venture of Interpipe and Vallourec,” press release.
According to the press release, the beginning of production is planned for the autumn of 2018. The pipes will be sold under the Vallourec brand in the European market.
Works to complete a parking area near Terminal D of the Boryspil International Airport (Kyiv) will be finished by the contractor – NAN LLC (Kharkiv) – in the approved term – summer 2018, Boryspil Airport Commercial Director Heorhiy Zubko has said. “The contractor had a lot of difficulties with the audit of the works carried out earlier, as the facility was accepted in poor conditions. In addition, long winter upset the schedule, but these are their commitments. We did not lift them,” he said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine, commenting on the earlier announced possibility of filing a claim to court against the contractor.
Zubko said that Boryspil Airport Director General Pavlo Riabikin presented an option of terminating the contract, as the contractor is behind the schedule.
“We held many working meetings. One of the basic conditions was payment of all financial liabilities under bank guarantees, and the contractor met these conditions. We signed the new schedule with the contractors, describing details, and it is obliged to carry out works. We see this now. This does not lift the commitments of the contractor to commission the parking area in line with the contract terms, and this is summer 2018,” he said. Zubko also said that according to the financial plan of the airport for 2018, UAH 200 million is allocated for construction of the parking area this year.
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Businessman Vasyl Khmelnytsky’s K.Fund and Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute will build and open in Kharkiv the Innovations Campus educational space worth more than UAH 60 million by the end of 2018, the press service of the UFuture investment group has reported.
“Construction work is due to begin in April, and the campus will start operating at the end of 2018. The task of the project is to enable Ukrainian specialists to develop and be successful in Ukraine,” the report says.
The training will be based on an innovative educational program, which was developed by UNIT Factory specialists in cooperation with Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute and other Ukrainian higher educational establishments.
In addition, the Small and Medium Entrepreneurship School will continue its work at the campus, whereas modern co-working will open the possibility for start-ups and creative young professionals to get jobs, qualified professional business support, security, access to knowledge.
The organizers also plan to attract investments from the state, enterprises and local business to finance this social and educational project.
As reported, First Vice-President of the Ukrainian League of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (ULIE) Vasyl Khmelnytsky is the majority shareholder of UDP.
In early October 2017, he merged his business projects and social initiatives under the brand UFuture Investment Group (Brussels). The chief managing director of UFuture became the head of the ULIE office in Brussels, Mykola Tymoschuk.
The group included UDP, as well as businesses of Khmelnytsky: UDP Renewables, Bila Tserkva industrial park, innovative parks UNIT.City and LvivTech.City. The group is open to the creation of joint ventures and the attraction of new partners.
Support of social projects in the sphere of economy and education is provided by Khmelnytsky’s K.Fund.
UDP is one of the largest development companies in Ukraine. It has been operating in the market since 2002 and has implemented 11 projects with a total area of 3 million square meters. Among the most famous projects are the development of Kyiv airport, the construction of the Ocean Plaza trade and entertainment center and the RiverStone and Parkove Misto residential complexes in Kyiv.
INNOVATIONS CAMPUS, K.FUND, KHARKIV POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE, VASYL KHMELNYTSKY
