Pharmaceutical company PJSC Farmak (Kyiv) is exploring opportunities of exporting active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs, substances). The company may ship the first batches of APIs as early as late in 2019, Head of Farmak’s API Department Vasyl Kushniruk said during a press tour to the town of Shostka in Sumy region, where the company has an APIs production facility. “There are no sales today, but we plan to start selling in October this year and ship first tonnes of the substances,” he said.
If necessary, Farmak may triple API output, he said. “We have premises where we are ready to deploy lines to produce APIs if there is a sales market. Over a year we can triple our planned capacity,” he said. “Before last year, the company was not involved in sales of substances and we didn’t plan to sell them, but we have already got several requests that showed that there is demand for the purchase of substances, in particular, in the European market, and we are studying this issue,” he said.
Farmak’s investment in the organization of production of APIs in Shostka in 2010-2017 amounted to $40 million.
Farmak started producing APIs at the Svema industrial park in Shostka in 2015. The production meets environmental and GMP standards. In 2018, emissions of pollutants into the air by the API production department in Shostka amounted to only 1.9 tonnes per year, which is within the established limits. Of these emissions, 99% are those from the boiler house.
Farmak’s API production facility in Shostka is equipped with modern equipment and the latest air and water purification systems with a purity level of 95-99%. Its equipment was supplied by such well-known European brands as MVB and GEA. Thanks to modern sewage treatment plants of famous brands, the company’s impact on the environment is minimum.
In 2017, Farmak produced about 80 tonnes of APIs.
As was reported, PJSC Farmak opened a new production site for tablet production in December 2018, investment in amounted to EUR 20 million. The site will allow Farmak to double the capacity for the production of solid dosage forms, to 3 billion units per year.
By 2023, Farmak plans to increase exports to 40%. Currently, the share of Farmak’s exports is more than 25% of total sales.
PJSC Farmak is among Ukraine’s top three pharmaceutical producers and is a member of the Association Manufacturers of Medications of Ukraine (AMMU).
PJSC Farmak’s beneficiary is Chairperson of PJSC Farmak’s supervisory board Filia Zhebrovska. She owns 80% of the company’s shares.
In 2017, Farmak increased sales in the country’s retail pharmaceutical market by 21% in monetary terms. Its net profit grew by 29.9%, to UAH 839.09 million.
PJSC Farmak pharmaceutical company (Kyiv) has opened a new section of tablet production, investment in which amounted to EUR 20 million. Head of the supervisory board of the company Filia Zhebrovska said at the ceremony of opening the site in Kyiv that this project will allow Farmak to double the capacity of production of solid dosage forms to 3 billion tablets per year.
In general, it is planned in 2019 to transfer and master production of about 30 goods at new site TLF-2, including the drugs from the Available Medicines reimbursement program. Zhebrovska noted that the latest technology of pharmaceutical production and the most modern equipment are used on the site. The project has been implemented during two years. Due to the increase in capacity, Farmak will create almost 100 new jobs. “Our state needs investments for economic growth, contributing to the development of production and strengthening Ukraine’s position in the international arena,” she said.
Equipment from the leading European brands Glatt, IMA, Marchesini and others has been installed at Farmak’s new production site, which provides the entire technological cycle of tablet production from accepting and processing raw materials to the final dosage forms.
The opening of the production site brings PJSC Farmak closer to the strategic goal: the increase in exports to 40% by 2023.
Farmak plans to boost exports to 40% of total sales in coming five years, PJSC Farmak CEO Volodymyr Kostiuk has said, speaking about the company’s entrance the Australian market at the Ukrainian Pharmaceutical Forum in Kyiv. According to him, in 2015, negotiations were held with representatives of an international company with the office in Australia. And in 2017, Farmak shipped the first batch to this country.
“It took us a little time to enter this market [Australia]. After all, our products meet the high requirements that are needed to deliver products to this region… Having a certificate from the Australian regulator facilitates access to other markets. Our goal is to increase exports in the sales structure up to 40% in the next five years,” Kostiuk said, adding that the company’s closest horizons are the EU countries (Germany, the U.K.), the United States, Mexico, and the United Arab Emirates.
According to the company’s press service, the share of sales to the regions of Australia and Oceania in Ukrainian exports of pharmaceutical products is only 0.3%. This is due to the fact that the Australian market is considered well regulated – at the level of the United States, the EU, so few Ukrainian companies can ship their products to Australia.
Farmak is a member of the Association Manufacturers of Medications of Ukraine (AMMU).
PJSC Farmak (Kyiv), among top three leaders of the pharmaceutical sector of Ukraine, in 2018 plans to increase the exports share to 33%.
The company told Interfax-Ukraine that in H1 2018 Farmak’s exports grew by 13% year-over-year, in particular, thanks to supplies to Uzbekistan (a rise by 20%), Belarus (by 124%), Kazakhstan (by 13%) and Kyrgyzstan (by 16%).
Sales of products to Russia remained at the level of 2017.
“We want to increase the export potential of the company by retaining the leading positions in Ukraine. It would lead to an increase in production, creation of new jobs, an increase in the amount of taxes paid. For Farmak, the markets of the European Union and Asia remain a priority,” Farmak Executive Director Volodymyr Kostiuk said.
In general, according to him, in 2017, Farmak exported products for $70 million. In 2017, Poland, Uzbekistan and Russia dominated the structure of foreign sales. In particular, sales to Poland accounted for 28.3% of total exports, Uzbekistan – 20.9% and Russia – 16.7%.
In 2017, the share of Farmak’s sales in foreign markets was 31%.
Farmak is a member of the Association Manufacturers of Medications of Ukraine (AMMU).
PJSC Farmak (Kyiv), among top three leaders of the pharmaceutical sector of Ukraine, plans to invest $10 million in construction of a pharmaceutical plant in Uzbekistan, the company’s press service has reported. “With a view to the export development, Farmak is considering an investment project with investment of $10 million to localize production in the Republic of Uzbekistan with the launch of production in bulk and a gradual transition to full-cycle production, with the development of technologically more complex products, in particular, radiopaque and biotechnological products,” the press service of the company said, citing Chairperson of the supervisory board Filia Zhebrovska.
At present, Farmak is fourth in sales in the pharmaceutical market of Uzbekistan, the portfolio of products sold in this country totals 120 items.
The company said that the head of the Farmak’s supervisory board and Ambassador of Uzbekistan to Ukraine Alisher Abdualiyev have already agreed on the construction of the plant.
“The new production facility of Farmak will expand the range of medicines that are produced in Uzbekistan, reduce dependence on imported production and create a basis for further expansion of the pharmaceutical cluster,” Abdualiyev said.
Farmak is a member of the Association Manufacturers of Medications of Ukraine (AMMU).
PJSC Farmak (Kyiv), one of the three leaders of the Ukrainian pharmaceutical industry, in the first half of 2018 increased pharmacy sales by 17.4%, to UAH 2.232 billion. According to a press release of the pharmaceutical company, with reference to a study by Proxima Research, thus, Farmak for the eighth consecutive year has been leading the rating of marketing organizations in the pharmaceutical market of the country in January-June 2018.
As reported, Farmak in January-March 2018 increased sales of medicines by 18.35% compared to the same period in 2017, to UAH 1.1 billion.
In 2017 Farmak raised sales in the retail pharmaceutical market of the country by 21% in monetary terms. Its net profit increased by 29.9%, to UAH 839.09 million.
Over the past seven years, the company has allocated UAH 2.8 billion for the development and modernization of production.
PJSC Farmak exports its products to 20 countries. The company’s portfolio includes 220 product dossiers. Annually, it brings to the market up to 20 new medicines.
