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Health preservation, innovation, high added value, these are the words that could be used to describe Richter Gedeon Pharmaceuticals. At the opening ceremony of the academic year at the University of Debrecen, the Senate awarded the title of Civis Honoris Causa to Erik Bogsch, who led the company for decades and played a decisive role in the establishment of the company’s biotechnology site here.
Erik Bogsch, Director of the Biotechnology Business Unit, and Attila Mile, Head of the Debrecen Biotechnology Site, also spoke about the activities of Richter’s Debrecen unit, which has been operating since 2012, the company’s development and manufacturing activities, as well as its domestic and international role in the Debrecen Television’s Public Affairs programme.
“This award is a great recognition, as Debrecen is ‘in the heart of Richter, even in the mind’. It is therefore no coincidence that the most modern manufacturing and, to some extent, development activities in the technology field are located in the city,“ in his opening remarks, Erik Bogsch emphasised.
“There were two reasons for this. One is the university’s knowledge base, and the other is the support of the city,” the Director pointed out, who also recalled that right before the construction, Richter and the local entrepreneurs had managed to attract the right professionals. And what has been built in Debrecen is almost unique not only in Hungary but also in the region.
Erik Bogsch highlighted that ”in the case of pharmaceutical biotechnology, we are talking about protein-based products. And the essence of the technology is that living cells are used to produce drugs”.
“The Debrecen site, which employs five hundred people, is very unique, as it is Hungary’s first and only biotechnology manufacturing unit that carries out complex activities, both active ingredient and formulation manufacturing in injection, dispensing pen or vial formats,” Attila Mile added.
“So we start with a mammalian cell, which then leaves the plant in the form of an injectable product, but we also carry out research and development and full-scale laboratory tests,” the Site Manager said.
“Achieving annual sales of two billion euros was an important milestone last year, which is an outstanding achievement for a mid-sized pharmaceutical company. Richter has 11,000 employees globally, half of whom work outside Hungary, and has a commercial presence in more than fifty countries covering six continents, “Erik Bogsch continued.
“We are very proud that 90 percent of our income comes from exports,” he stressed.
The Director pointed out that biologics had made a huge breakthrough in the field of cancer and autoimmune diseases, particularly in oncology.
Richter is developing biosimilars of these products (Biosimilars are drugs that are similar to, or ultimately copies of, an already approved biologic drug, known as a reference drug.) The aim of the portfolio is to give as many patients as possible access to these often life-saving drugs.
Richter has two types of technology: one based on microbes and the other on mammalian cells. The more complex latter is based in Debrecen, while the former, more traditional, is based at their plant in Germany, complementing each other well.
Erik Bogsch emphasised that it is not often that a Hungarian-based company builds a new plant in Germany.
“The cooperation between the two plants is characterised by the fact that, for example, the active ingredient of their first proprietary biosimilar product is produced in the German plant,” Attila Mile said, giving an example. The Site Manager added that they have a very good cooperation with both the University of Debrecen and the Chemical Engineering Institute, as shown by the fact that a significant number of their employees studied in the city, but of course they mainly acquire their specific biotechnological production knowledge at the company.
The professional pool has been enlarged, but Attila Mile did not hide the fact that as Debrecen is developing dynamically, the challenge of retaining staff is becoming ever greater. And they are trying to do this by all possible means.
Erik Bogsch discussed their 20-year-long investment in Cariprazine, an innovative product that successfully entered the market. This is a neuropsychiatric product, which can also be used against schizophrenia, for example, and which is already extremely successful in the United States. As a result, they also plan to launch biotechnological products in the USA.
Source:dehir.hu
