A bright pharmaceutical future
Recently, the company questioned the legality of the tender for the purchase of 47 percent of shares in the state-owned pharmaceutical firm Jelfa. According to unofficial information, the best offer was submitted by Sanitas, a Lithuanian pharmaceutical firm. The Lithuanian company allegedly offered the highest price for Jelfa shares. However, it failed to provide sufficient financial guarantees. It merely presented Bank Pekao SA's statement that the institution might consider financing the operation. Moreover, it was revealed that the new Treasury Minister, Andrzej Mikosz, who has the final say in the privatization, worked as an adviser for Sanitas just before assuming office.
Adamed did not place its bid but applied for a repeat of the sales procedure to the Industrial Development Agency (ARP).
Both Adamed and Enterprise Investors criticize Jelfa's privatization procedures. What are the chances of the tender being cancelled and could Adamed outbid Sanitas?
Maciej Adamkiewicz: We are still interested in buying the Jelfa SA shares. We think that a Polish investor from the same industry will be the best partner for them.
Adamed's lawyers and counselors had a close look at the privatization procedure and we think it was not transparent enough and the rules kept changing. As a result we turned to the Industrial Development Agency with a motion to start the procedure again with clear rules. As for our offer, we cannot reveal the details.
Adamed owes much of its success to modern drug-production technologies. How much do you spend on research on new drugs?
We are planning to spend some zł.20 million by the end of 2005 and a similar amount in 2006. Apart from our own resources, next year we would also like to benefit from the opportunities provided by EU subsidies and new laws on the development of highly advanced technologies in Poland.
What is your prognoses for 2005? Do you have any further investment plans?
Last year our revenues amounted to zł.305 million and we would like to reach a similar level this year. We intend to actively develop exports of our drugs both to EU countries and other regions of the world. The Polish market accounts for only one percent of the global pharmaceutical market, the remaining 99 percent of this market is outside Poland. We can't reject the potential that the world offers, especially that the production of very modern drugs gives us a big chance to succeed.
One of our biggest achievements this year is the creation of the Polish Technological Platform for Innovative Medicine. Adamed is one of its founding members. The Platform's aim is to draft a strategic development scheme for the Polish medical industry as well as for the main directions in research on new drugs in Poland that could gain the support of the Polish government and the European Union. R&D development is what we would like to concentrate on in the next few years.
Why are medicines so expensive in Poland? Drugs produced by the same company are often more expensive in Poland than in other EU countries.
I wouldn't agree that drugs in Poland are more expensive. This is only true in single cases, especially when only one drug is available on the market, which is usually related to the monopoly of a Western concern. That's why our country should support the Polish pharmaceutical industry, which introduces to the market new-generation equivalents of drugs for lower prices.
In March this year Adamed opened a subsidiary in the US. Was it an expensive undertaking?
By the end of 2005 Adamed Incorporated will have invested almost $1 (zł.3.4) million in activities aimed at opinion leaders and the development of our own medical equipment and related therapy distribution network.
Interviewed by Katarzyna Dębek
