PharmaS launches division for over-the-counter medicines - Drugs from Zrenjanin-based pharmaceutical plant to hit eastern markets soon

The pharmaceutical company PharmaS Srbija has launched the CHC (Consumer Healthcare) division, that is, the production of over-the-counter (OTC) medicines, with its first product from that range being PharmaS PROBalans, an innovative probiotic completely developed by the experts of this company. There is no other product of similar composition and with similar effects in the domestic market, which is why PharmaS PROBalans is currently pending a global patent.

As a regional pharmaceutical company, PharmaS operates in five countries, including Serbia since 2010, managing production facilities in Croatia and Zrenjanin, where a modern plant with an annual capacity of 30m packs of drugs was opened two years ago.

Andjelina Arsic, the director of PharmaS Srbija, says in a talk with eKapija that the first OTC drug PROBalans will for now be produced only in Croatia, adding that certain products from the new portfolio will also be produced in Serbia as the demand grows.

- Considering that we are just entering the CHC sector, PROBalans will for now be produced only in Croatia.

PharmaS is going to launch three more products from the OTC portfolio by the year's end.

- The next product we expect to unveil as early as June will be intended for women, a cure for insomnia will hit the market in September, while the range of PROBalans products will be supplemented with products for kids, immunity, etc. by the year's end.

As our interlocutor points out, ten years ago pharmaceutical companies around the world were shutting down such divisions, whereas now they are reopening them as people's interest in self-medication is on a rise, which is why PharmaS plans to invest about EUR 1 million in the production of over-the-counter drugs.

From Zrenjanin to the East

PharmaS is producing 30 registered generic prescription drugs at its pharmaceutical plant in Zrenjanin which makes 30m packs of drugs a year, 15 percent of which are exported.

- Drugs from Zrenjanin are currently marketed in Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, and the plan for the nearest future is to start exporting them to eastern countries as well – says Arsic.

In addition to the production facility, Zrenjanin also hosts a drug quality control laboratory. PharmaS has so far invested EUR 18 million in this plant in the north of Banat, and Arsic stresses that they are more than satisfied with operations in the previous year and a half.

- PharmaS was declared the quickest-growing pharmaceutical company in 2012. Our revenue in 2013 grew EUR 3 million from the year before, while the turnover in Q1 2014 was bigger than in the same period last year.

I.B.