Business news

VITEBSK, 2 May (BelTA) – Vitebsk-based OOO Rubikon plans to get its pharmaceutical production certified in compliance with the European GMP standards (good manufacturing practice) in 2016, BelTA learned form Alexander Malash, the head of the sales department at Rubikon.

The company is preparing to enter the Western markets. “We are planning to start with the markets of Eastern Europe. The markets of these countries are growing, and they are more open to generic preparations,” Alexander Malash explained. “We have already signed a contract for carrying out the certification with representatives of Bulgaria. More than a year ago, the pharmaceutical plant passed a certification audit by specialists from Germany. Besides the company was originally set up taking into account the European GMP, which today we actually fully comply with,” Alexander Malash said. In 2013, the company certified the pharmaceutical production for compliance with the national GMP.

Simultaneously OOO Rubikon promotes products to the markets of the post-Soviet countries. The company has already registered or is undergoing the procedure to register ten names of drugs in Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Armenia. The first batches have already been shipped to Georgia. However, export development eastward is constrained by the protracted process of unifying the pharmaceutical markets of the Customs Union countries. This reason is the reason why Rubikon is not present in Russia.

OOO Rubikon was set up in 1994 to work on the market of veterinary drugs. In 2010 the company started developing the pharmaceutical manufacture. Today, the pharmaceutical plant produces 25 medicines, including 14 pills. By the end of the year Rubikon plans to start the production of another 5 items of solid dosage forms. The pill production at Rubikon focuses solely on import substitution. The company is the only manufacturer in Belarus of some pill preparations and soft dosage forms. In particular, the company is to launch the manufacture of first Belarusian hemorrhoidal suppositories. In 2015 Rubikon placed 7th in terms of sales among domestic manufacturers. In January-March the company reported a 5.5% increase in production and Br75 billion worth of sales. Profitability of sales exceeded 35%. The company exported almost $500,000 worth of products. Rubikon employs more than 250 people.