Sindan, a company specialised in the production of oncologic drugs, has raised its export forecast to 10 million euros, almost four times higher than the level seen last year.
“We hope to get the approval of the FDA (Food & Drug Administration – the ruling authority for pharmaceuticals in the United States) by the end of this year in order to be able to export to the North American market,” said Ilana Stancovski, general manager of Sindan Pharma.
Only a small number Romanian companies have managed to sell products on Western markets – including Antibiotice Iasi, Sicomed Bucharest and Terapia Cluj-Napoca – and receipts are still low. Drug exports last year amounted to about 20 million euros.
About 70% of domestic drug consumption, close to 1 billion euros last year, is covered by imports.
One of the major problems of Romanian exports is the lack of products with high added value, and exports of drugs accounted for 0.1% of total exports.
Sindan is one of the main producers of oncologic drugs (cancer treatment drugs) in Central and Eastern Europe. The company was recently licensed by the British ruling authority, Medicines and Health Care Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), to start exporting to West European markets, including Great Britain.
Sindan will approach Western markets with a generic alternative to an original drug, the patent for which will expire this year, Stancovski explained.
The company currently exports to Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.
Last year Sindan posted total sales of around 60 million euros, which included its distribution unit from where there were exports of 2.6 million euros. For this year Sindan expects a 15% higher turnover.
The Romanian producer recently agreed on a partnership with US giant Eli Lilly, a company with total sales in excess of 12.5 billion dollars in 2003. The partnership will see production in Romania of a variant of top-selling drug Gemzar for sale on the local market.
“At present we are actively seeking partners. This is the basis of our policy for expansion of our drug portfolio,” Stancovski said.
Sindan has a market share of 88% on its market segment, given that 55% of the domestic consumption needs are covered by the domestic production, according to its own estimates.
alexandru.cerchez@zf.ro