Pharmaceutical Technologist - January 2008 - (Page 19)

Sutton Iceland’s Atavis and US-based Barr Pharmaceuticals, as both companies wanted the ability to compete with the industry leaders in generic drugs. Barr’s final bid of US$141 (€96) per share valued Pliva at approximately US$2.5 billion (€1.7 billion) and transformed it into one of the largest generic drugs companies in the world. Also in 2006, GSK acquired Pliva’s Zagreb R&D centre for US$35 million (€24 million) and transformed it in to the GSK Centre of Excellence for Macrolide Drug Discovery, which is dedicated to developing macrolide-based medicines to treat human diseases. Dr Radan Spaventi, general manager of the Zagreb research centre, believes Croatia “offers access to good people with entrepreneurial and innovative spirit who are willing to learn and face challenges of global science and global market.” A substantial, competent workforce is key in creating any successful industry. For foreign investors, language skills are particularly important as they minimize communication barriers that can impact on productivity. The English, German and Italian language abilities of the Croatian workforce are unmatched by any other countries in the region (Figure 1). Croatia’s science and technical graduates are also highly skilled and respected throughout the world. The university of Zagreb is one of the oldest and biggest universities in south-east Europe and has produced many important scientists including genetics expert Miroslav Radman who, along with a small team of Croatian researchers in 2006, made a discovery that could lead to new forms of regenerative medicines and might even allow scientists to — one day — bring dead cells in our bodies back to life. Ivan Dikic, another graduate of the university, was the first European to receive the award for Outstanding Achievement in Cancer Research from the American Association for Cancer Research. Other Croatian accomplishments can be seen across the scientific domains and the country is one of the leaders in approved patents per million inhabitants, emphasizing the creativity of Croatian inventors, scientists and companies (Figure 2). Examples of inventions include the biodiesel production line and the vacuum unit for gas separation, both of which won medals and attracted great interest at Palexpo (Geneva, Swizerland) in 2007, one of the largest international exhibitions of inventions, new technologies and products. Croatia is also in a prime location to enable companies to take advantage of the expertise offered by the country. According to Spaventi: “Croatia, in spite of excellent location in the heart of Europe, offers lower operating costs compared with EU countries.” Figure 1 An overview of language skills in the region. 60 50 40 % 30 20 10 0 English German Italian i ven Slo a atia Cro ia vak Slo a and ani Pol om R ch Cze R. Bu lga ria Source: Eurobarometer (February, 2006), European Commission Figure 2 Patents granted by united states patent and trademark office. 0.35 0.3 0.25 0.2 0.15 0.1 0.05 0 Cze d ia ia ia ia ia ia R. ry ch Croat unga huan Latv ulgar lovak Polan man B S H Ro Lit * United States Patent and Trademark Office www.ptemagazine.com 19 http://www.ptemagazine.com

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Pharmaceutical Technologist - January 2008 Contents Editor's Comment News Morpheus Market Watch Lagging Japanese Drug R&D Croatia’s Innovation Integrating PAT with Biopharmaceutical Development and Manufacture Q&A

Pharmaceutical Technologist - January 2008

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