How A&D Pharma became the largest firm in its field

A&D Pharma, the largest Romanian pharmaceutical company, has changed its organisation structure in order to tap into regional markets.
Whereas, until 2007, A&D Pharma consisted of two divisions, distribution (Mediplus) and retail (Sensiblu), the group now has another department, sales & marketing. Each division head is responsible for researching neighbouring markets, and expansion will involve each of the three lines of business.
But how did the group evolve from signing its first contracts, to an over 130 million-euro listing on the London Stock Exchange?
In 1994, the founders of what would later become A&D Pharma (then Plurifarm), Michel Eid, Ludovic Robert, Roger Akoury and Walid Abboud, French businessmen of Lebanese origin, won the representation contract for Romania (for distribution and promotional activities) for Upsa’s product portfolio, from Bristol Myers (a pharmaceuticals producer with global business worth 15 billion dollars).
The contract with Upsa entailed TV promotion, and the impact on sales proved critical.
In September 1997, the wholesale division (traditional distribution), Mediplus, was set up, and the same year saw the opening of the first Sensiblu drugstore.
A&D Pharma’s history went through an important stage in 2006 when it became a publicly traded company. “At first it was said that we were eager to replicate our business model on various segments, or as a whole, in the region. (…) However, A&D Pharma is made up of several different businesses, you can’t tap into a market with all of them at once, when you only need do so on one segment,” explains Vivian Diaconescu, chief operations officer of A&D Pharma’s sales & marketing division.
Currently, A&D Pharma is structured on three lines of business: traditional wholesale (traditional distribution – Mediplus, headed by Robert Popescu), retail (headed by Claudiu Opran), and sales & marketing (headed by Vivian Diaconescu.)