The demand for medicinal products that are used in the complex therapy of COVID-19 patients such as corticosteroids, relaxants, analgesics, antibiotics, as well as anesthetics and sedatives, required in case of putting patients on ventilators, has sharply increased since the beginning of the pandemic. Therefore, such Farmak medicinal products as propofol, dexamethasone, vasopressin and many others appeared to be extremely popular. While not all of the mentioned products are registered in the EU countries, we obtained import permits not only to the UK, Sweden, France, Germany, Poland, but also to Australia, New Zealand, Mexico and Singapore in the situation of abnormal demand. In addition, due to unprecedented shipments of complex injectable drugs to Israel, this country became the second by the export volume of our products in the first half of 2020. Taking into account the fact that incidence keeps increasing we predict that the drugs used in coronavirus treatment will be the main drivers of Farmak export growth the next year.
Due to the comprehensive policy to develop our export potential, today Farmak is the first and only manufacturer in Ukraine and the CIS countries with 40 registered drugs in 13 EU countries. In order to confirm the European quality of each exported medicinal product, our manufacturing facilities, technological processes, quality control systems and warehouses are inspected for full compliance with the European GMP standards. Although the domestic pharmaceutical industry gradually switches over to GMP/GDP standards, their harmonization with the international standards takes time. Therefore, we use the practice of parallel procedures, compiling registration dossiers of new drugs both for Ukraine and the EU countries. This allows us not only to develop more than 20 new drugs per year, but also to launch about half of them in the markets of the EU, Canada and Australia in full compliance with the requirements of ICH Quality Guidelines. Our products are certified and recertified by the regulatory authorities of Poland, Germany and Croatia for full compliance with the EU GMP requirements. However, Farmak, as a national industry leader, is always ready to new challenges. So, we plan to enter the U.S. market as the largest market in the world in a short time. For this purpose, we signed a contract with a company that will ensure registration of our MP with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The requirements of the U.S. market differ from those of the European one, but we are sure that Farmak products fully meet all international quality standards.
We participated in the WHO Drug Prequalification Programme aimed at assessing the quality, safety and efficacy of drugs. This is evidence not only that quality of Farmak products is highly evaluated, but also that our status as a global exporter is internationally recognized. But the most important thing is the evidence of consumer confidence in the brand not only in Ukraine, but also all over the world, because Farmak medicines are borderless!
