Eastern European news round-up
additional states, attention has been fixed on the development of
the pharmaceutical industry in these and other Eastern European
states. In-Pharmatechnologist.com provides a rundown of recent
development in the sector.
Belarus will produce pharmaceuticals worth $80 million (€63m) this year, according to the Interfax news agency, citing Vyacheslav Dranitsa, director general of local drug company Belbiopharm. Dranitsa noted that Belarusian producers have a share of the domestic drugs market of only 21 per cent. A new pharmaceuticals factory that was to have been constructed in Belarus in co-operation with India will not now be built because of environmental considerations.
In Latvia, local firm Grindeks has signed a memorandum of co-operation with the Swedish pharmaceutical services company, Syntagon, according to a report in Baltic Business News. Under the terms of the deal, co-operation between the two companies will take place in stages from 2005 to 2007 in developing technologies for the small-scale synthesis of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). If successful, the initial co-operation will be expanded after 2007, said the companies. Syntagon recently opened an office - Syntagon Baltics - in Pinki on the outskirts of Riga.
The Walmark pharmaceuticals and health supplements producer in the Czech Republic is to close a drinks plant in Cesky Tesin in northern Moravia in February next year, according to the CTK news agency's Business News. Production will be transferred to other Walmark factories. The closed factory will be used as a logistics centre by Walmark's pharmaceuticals division.
Vilnius, Lithuania-based pharmaceutical company Valentis generated sales of 10.4 million litas (€3m) over January-September 2004, up 11.3 per cent year-on-year, according to Baltic Business News. The company was recently awarded a certificate of Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) that it says will help it boost annual sales to 13 million litas for the full year.
Finally, Latvian company Sanitas is planning to invest 40 million litas in the construction of a new production facility, providing it can secure a portion of the funding in the form of European Union aid. The new facility would be built on the territory of endocrine preparations manufacturer Endokrininiai Preparatai, which Sanitas is planning to acquire.
