Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - October 2008 - (Page 31)

As competition motivates you to continue forward, what products do you have in the pipeline to bring to market? We have many generic products that we are developing ourselves. We are the only company, for instance, that made a Phase 2 clinical study in Turkey. This gives us an advantage when we speak to biotech companies that are developing products so that they want to develop their products together with us. Hence, we are very much involved in such projects and we will be increasingly involved in the future. and established Fargem, your pharmaceutical research and development centre, as an independent institute. How will this change your R&D activities? This structure allows the R&D unit to act, invest and develop as an independent institute and to serve other companies. In the entire group’s R&D, we employ around 100 people and budget 5% of our income into our R&D activities. These activities comprise a wide range of products; in the mid term around 150 generics which we determine by inquiring their medical value, effectiveness and market potential. Güldem Berkman, country head, Novartis As a global originator, Novartis teams up with its generic unit Sandoz to cover the entire lifecycle of a pharmaceutical product and has had presence in Turkey for about 50 years. Unlike most multinationals, you use Turkey as a production hub and lead the country in pharma exports. Please explain that commitment. In over 50 years of existence in Turkey we have invested heavily and acted as a responsible corporate citizen. That is the proof of our commitment. Here in Turkey we have a major investment with four production facilities and the Kurtköy plant is one of the biggest production plants of Novartis worldwide. We export to over 80 countries from Turkey. In the next 10 years, Novartis will continue to grow production facilities in Turkey, including exports. How did you get involved in this Phase 2 trial? We have a business development team responsible for international in- and out-licensing projects, covering also development projects. I am working closely with this group since this part of the business plays an important role for future projections. We are aware that the future lies in new developments. Thus, we are also looking for partners with whom we can develop new projects. As far as per capita spending on medicines, Turkey has come a long way but it is still among the lowest in Europe. How much is this an issue for your company? This is one of the major issues. Nevertheless, more than 80% of the population is covered by the social security system. The health system is in improvement so that patients’ access to drugs will also increase. Based on this fact, Turkey is predicted to become the tenth biggest pharmaceutical market in the world in the near future. How does your overall portfolio differ from what you’re offering in Turkey? In some of the emerging growth markets the global portfolio and the local portfolio are pretty different from each You have recently restructured your research and development operations 37 Last words other. Fortunately, in Turkey our portfolio is almost aligned with global. Our product innovation and market entry initiatives are cardiovascular, oncology, respiratory, rheumatology, immunology, neuroscience and transplantation. 3 News The monthly round-up of European stories 6 Calendar Upcoming events in Europe and around the world 7 BioFutures Gerhard Symons on the dark side of Russian healthcare Who said what in pharma’s last four weeks

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - October 2008

Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - October 2008 Contents News and Analysis Calendar BioFutures Strategy Fundamentals Executive Recruitment: Small Company, Big Career Executive Recruitment: Instant Pharma Named Patient Programmes Executive Review: Turkey

Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - October 2008

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