During a short period of time, Farmak made a transformation from a chemical and technical plant into an innovative company. A modern production was developed in Ukraine. The European-level medicinal products manufactured both for the domestic market and for more than 20 countries of Europe and CIS are the same high-quality medicinal products. Nowadays Farmak is a 7-hectare concentration of innovations that make up the arsenal of the modern pharmaceutical industry!
Characteristic feature of Farmak is not just to track innovations, but also to implement them into its own production. It takes 4–6 years for a generic company to develop a medicinal product, so the planning step in Farmak is 5–10 years.
Currently, we have modern laboratories and R&D complex. These are intellectual clusters, which focus on creating new technologies, optimizing them, integrating quality with the use of modern analytical equipment. Each of Farmak projects is significant, that is whether they involve the global study of the original molecules for such medicinal products such as Amizon, Efial and other medicinal products, or cooperation with international companies.
Cooperation with foreign companies always results in new technologies and new knowledge. At the beginning of the 2000s, Farmak began to produce insulins using Eli Lilly (USA) technology. Farmak is the second company in the world to which the technology of insulin cartridges manufacturing, that is a complex of complicated technologies, was transferred. The company accepted the offer of European partners for development and production of the radiopaque contrast agent Magnegita in accordance with the European requirements 12 years ago. Farmak has rebuilt the main processes and fully adapted to new regulatory requirements. The product has been successfully launched in the European market, and now we are manufacturing another product — Dotagita using such model.
We felt the need to expand the production of finished medicinal products and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). Therefore, it was decided to create a new department for the production of APIs in Shostka.
The new production was created on the basis of the Industrial Park “SVEMA” and occupies 4 hectares. Currently it is a modern complex that meets the requirements of GMP and contains manufacturing sites, quality control laboratories and logistics center.
The department has an autonomous and universal laboratory. All processes of chromatographic, analytical, microbiological laboratories and the sector of stability are concentrated in one complex. The updated logistics station has 536 pallet places of 500 kg or 268 tons of different raw materials and substances. There is also an engineering and technical workshop with a steam generator, two powerful oil-fired compressor plants, an adsorption generator, an own power unit, water-heating boilers.
Modern water treatment systems are operated at the production facilities. We have even an aquarium with fishes, to which water comes after cleaning.
FARMAK IS THE SECOND COMPANY IN THE WORLD TO WHICH THE TECHNOLOGY OF INSULIN CARTRIDGES MANUFACTURING, THAT IS A COMPLEX OF COMPLICATED PROCESSES, WAS TRANSFERRED.
Since 1995 Farmak has invested USD 239 million in modernization and innovation. In 2017, investments of Farmak JSC in development and modernization amounted to UAH 486 million. In 2018, their volume grew by more than a third — up to UAH 638 million. The main project of this year was “Solid medicinal products – 2”. Its implementation will make it possible to increase the total capacity for the production of tablet medicinal products by almost two times – up to 3 billion dosed units per year. In addition, the Company will continue to invest in modernization and equipment of active production, information technology, laboratories of the quality control department and biotechnology laboratory. We put special emphasis on the development of new medicinal products. In total, the Company has more than 10 serious capital investment projects at the various stages of implementation.
To date, the Company has equipped a biotechnological laboratory that makes it possible to simulate the process of obtaining active substance — the main component of a medicinal product that has therapeutic properties. The amount of investments in this project is UAH 60 million.
We expand our competencies in biotechnology and are actively working on obtaining our own genetically engineered proteins for therapeutic purposes. We plan to thoroughly characterize these substances, make finished dosage forms from them, conduct non-clinical and clinical studies. Then we will be able to talk about establishment of biotechnology production. This is a prospect for at least 5 years.
People are one of the Company’s core values. First of all, we take care about our employees. The company provides the opportunity for constant development. Motivation Cafeteria operates at the company: everyone can choose an individual program. The company regularly sends employees for training, both in Ukraine and abroad.
We invite international experts to Farmak. In this way, we take care about professional and career development for employees. More than 80% of managerial vacancies are filled by own candidates.
The strategic goal of the Company is to increase the presence of Farmak in the European market. By 2020, we plan to increase the portion of exports to 40%. We consider the possibility of buying a pharmaceutical company in Europe. Poland was the first step, and now we are considering other countries.
Since 2017 Farmak has been a participant of the Horizon 2020 program and is involved in VAHVISTUS and ORBIS projects in Research and Innovation Staff Exchange (RISE). This is a unique opportunity to be familiarized with new developments of scientific laboratories of EU countries. In cooperation with the Institute of Organic Chemistry of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, the Department of Chemistry of the University of Helsinki (Finland), the Institute of Polymers, Composites and Biomaterials, Pozzuoli (Naples, Italy), Farmak has created VAHVISTUS Consortium. Its partners include the National Institute of Amazonian Research (INPA, Brazil), the University of Ibn Tofail (Kenitra, Morocco) and the University of Florida (Gainesville, USA). ORBIS Consortium, in addition to Farmak, includes the University of Poznan (Poland), the University of Warsaw (Poland), the University of New Jersey (USA), the University of Dublin, in particular the Trinity College (Ireland), Department of Pharmacy of the University of Helsinki (Finland). Zentiva pharmaceutical company (headquartered in Prague, Czech Republic) and Applaid Process Consulting (Ireland) became the industrial partners of the consortium. Farmak also cooperates with all the relevant universities in Ukraine. Currently, Farmak employs 35 candidates and 5 doctors of sciences.
