Pharmaceutical company Darnitsa is studying the prospects of entering Asian markets, can present competitive products there.
“We are looking at the Asian market, South Asia. These are quite large markets, where we are faced with a powerful Indian and Chinese form, behind which is state protectionism. But we have products with which we can compete,” the press service said citing head of the board of directors of Darnitsa Group Dmytro Shymkiv.
He said that in 2020 the company introduced ten new products to the market, which it represents, including in international markets.
Shymkiv also stressed that Darnitsa supports the initiative of leading Ukrainian pharmaceutical companies to “promote the idea of introducing into the agreement with the EU of the issue of mutual recognition of GMP certificates of pharmaceutical plants.”
“This would make it possible to significantly accelerate the export of Ukrainian pharmaceutical products to European countries. Ukrainian pharmaceutical production meets all European standards, the requirements that are prescribed for Ukrainian companies fully meet European standards,” he said.
Shymkiv noted that Ukrainian pharmaceutical companies in 2020 during the lockdown were able to maintain and increase their presence in European markets.
Commenting on the possibility of launching vaccine production in Ukraine, he noted that Darnitsa studied the issue of investment in the vaccine business in 2018-2019.
“The business of vaccines is different from the business of drugs. In all developed countries, vaccine production is a production where, first of all, the state is the largest buyer,” he said.
Commenting on the possibility of launching the production of vaccines against COVID-19, Shymkiv noted that “the Ukrainian pharma industry can build a plant, invest about $ 10-15 million in it, it will take about 2-2.5 years, but with small volumes it will have to compete with global companies which are already making vaccines.”
“At the end of the year, we will have on the world market about 50 vaccines against COVID-19, which will pass all stages of clinical trials. Therefore, the question is how to integrate into this process,” he said, stressing that the negotiation process with Western and Eastern companies continues.
Darnitsa pharmaceutical company is the leader of the Ukrainian pharmaceutical market in natural terms. The company was founded in 1930. The portfolio’s strategic directions are cardiology, neurology and pain management. The beneficiaries of the company are the Zahoriy family.
In July-September 2020, the pharmaceutical company Teva increased sales of the antibiotic with active substance Azithromycin in Ukraine, which accounts for about 11% of its total sales in the country in monetary terms, by 5% compared to the same period in 2019 of the year.
Teva-Ukraine pharmaceutical company told Interfax-Ukraine that since the beginning of the pandemic in Ukraine Teva has sold more than 600,000 packages of this antibiotic.
At the same time, according to the results of the third quarter of 2020, sales in general on the Ukrainian pharmaceutical market in the segment of oral antibiotics in monetary terms grew by 14% compared to the same period in 2019.
Teva-Ukraine said that the company produces both original and generic azithromycin, which is used to treat bacterial respiratory tract infections and other infectious diseases.
Azithromycin is included in the protocol for providing medical care for COVID-19 in Ukraine and in many countries around the world.
“Teva has been providing uninterrupted supplies of azithromycin to Ukraine since the beginning of the pandemic and we will continue doing this,” the company said.
The company said that demand for azithromycin has grown worldwide amid seasonal illnesses and the use of azithromycin for the treatment of co-infections with COVID-19.
“It is possible that certain dosages and forms of production from different manufacturers may be in short supply. In our case, we do not see risks, since Teva’s portfolio contains 17 trade names of azithromycin, most of them are interchangeable. In case of a possible shortage of one of the forms, we proactively warn our partners about this, talk about available alternative forms of production, increase the volume of their imports,” the company said.
At the same time, Teva urges people to remember the rules for using antibiotics and the possible consequences of irrational antibiotic therapy and self-treatment in general.
“Only a doctor can prescribe antibiotics,” the company said.
According to Proxima Research, Azithromycin Teva has been the leader in the oral antibiotics segment in Ukraine since 2019. Over the past month, its share of all medicines in Ukraine amounted to almost 1% in monetary terms.
Teva Ukraine LLC is one of the five largest pharmaceutical companies on the Ukrainian market. The company’s portfolio includes more than 200 generic and original medicines used in most key therapeutic areas.
Teva Ukraine is part of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, an international pharmaceutical company headquartered in Israel, founded in 1901. Teva specializes in the development, production and marketing of generic and original medicines and active pharmaceutical ingredients.
The website of the Farmak pharmaceutical company (Kyiv) is visited by about 400,000 people per month.
According to a Farmak’s press release, the pharmaceutical company entered the top 10 companies according to the Company Transparency Index 2019, calculated by the Corporate Governance Professional Association in cooperation with the Corporate Social Responsibility Development center and with the support of CIPE and assistance of the Ministry for Development of Economy, Trade and Agriculture.
The top 10 index leaders provide more than 50% of the information that was included in the evaluation categories, while the overall level of transparency of the websites of other companies in Ukraine is about 25%.
The Index survey showed that most often companies post information related to environmental protection, labor relations, work with communities, corporate governance, company management, composition of the supervisory board, information for investors, anti-corruption programs on their websites.
Executive Director of Farmak Volodymyr Kostiuk said that “information openness is a requirement of the time, without which the company cannot become successful.”
“International investors and partners are actively exploring the information space about the company. This is extremely important for us. After all, we export products to 28 countries,” he said.
Kostiuk said that Farmak publishes financial statements according to international standards every year. And having become a member of the UN Global Compact, in 2020 Farmak first published the company’s non-financial statements.
“In addition to the main website of the company, we also have the websites of our representative offices, where relevant information for these countries is collected. The company also has active pages on social networks Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. Only on Facebook, 24,000 users have already subscribed to the Farmak page,” he said.
