Nycomed is to strengthen its focus on the Brazilian market and plans to double business volume in the country over the next five years.
Brazil makes up 37% of the Latin American pharmaceutical market, which was valued at $34 billion in 2008. This compares with Mexico’s 25%, Venezuela’s 13%, Argentina’s 9%, Colombia’s 5%, and 12% for the remaining countries in the region. With sector growth of 12.5% in 2008, Brazil also saw the strongest rate of growth among the world’s major pharmaceutical markets after China. Nycomed is to strengthen its focus on the Brazilian market and plans to double business volume in the country over the next five years.
Nycomed first arrived in Brazil in 2007 as a result of the merger with German company Altana Pharma. Since then, sales growth has been driven by the launch of new products, the acquisition of additional licences and improvements to the sales organisation.
Over the past five years Nycomed’s sales have grown at an annual rate of 14.6%, faster than the market as a whole.
Contract manufacturing
The company has invested $55 million in a 33,000m2 pharmaceutical manufacturing facility, which is one of the biggest and most modern plants in Latin America.
Located in Jaguariuna, 130km south-west of Sao Paulo, there are 400 employees working at the facility, which features state-of-the-art technology for solids, semi-solids and liquid preparations, plus a humidity- and temperature-controlled storage area for 5,900 pallets.
The plant can manufacture 100 million packages a year. Currently running at around 60% of capacity, clients include multinationals such as Bristol Mayers Squibb, Procter & Gamble, Boehringer Ingelheim, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Mantecorp and Solvay.
Besides producing synthetic and phytotherapeutical medicines according to the highest national and international quality standards – the plant is certified by ANVISA (Brazilian Sanitary Agency), INVIMA (Colombian Sanitary Agency), Mercosul and recently EMEA – the Jaguariuna plant is qualified to produce personal hygiene products as well as some cosmetics. It is also Nycomed’s back-up plant for its product Pantoprazole.
The Jaguariuna plant is an integral part of a global contract manufacturing organisation, currently consisting of a total of eight manufacturing sites that together offer the whole range of pharmaceutical technologies from solid to liquid preparations.
In total, Nycomed operates 16 manufacturing facilities in 12 countries, all of them meeting the highest international standards for quality. Being near to clients is part of the company’s understanding of providing a full service.
Nycomed tailors its services towards specific customers and tasks, providing expertise not only in scientific matters but also by supplementing its clients’ understanding of their target markets for the supply and distribution of products. Partnership plays a vital role in all of the company’s operational activities, and helps to guarantee that products not only reach exactly the right customers, but also reach them in the most efficient manner possible.