Servier invests nearly 25 percent of its turnover in clinical trials and innovative therapeutic solutions Shutterstock

French pharmaceutical company Servier has been present in Poland for 20 years, and cites its production facilities, educational programs and R&D investments as being its most innovative and sustainable investments.

The company focuses on the development and manufacture of innovative drugs from therapeutic areas including cardiovascular disease, metabolism, rheumatology, mental health and oncology.

Production capabilities

Around 95 percent of the medicinal products supplied by Servier to the Polish market are manufactured in Poland by Przedsiębiorstwo Farmaceutyczne ANPHARM, a subsidiary of Servier. The PF Anpharm plant is Servier’s third-largest production plant worldwide.

The company says that thanks to the capital it has provided, the Polish manufacturing plant has been equipped with the state-of-the-art pharmacological technologies for drug manufacture, and production capacity of the plant has increased tenfold.

One of the company’s main objectives is to develop modern innovative drugs for therapeutic uses concerning civilizational diseases. “All drugs manufactured by Servier Poland have been developed through our own research,” said company communications director Katarzyna Urbańska.

R&D

Servier’s International Clinical Trial Centre in Warsaw (ICTR Poland), coordinates an average of 15 to 20 clinical trials in Poland each year and monitors clinical trials conducted abroad. The total cost of research projects conducted and monitored by the Poland-based center has amounted to zł.256 million so far.

At present, Servier conducts clinical trials of 38 innovative molecules as part of 78 research projects in a number of research centres around the world. The company’s focus on clinical trials (including the clinical trials conducted in in Poland) resulted in it launching three new innovative drugs in the EU over the last six years.

“Polish scientists take an active part in the research conducted by Servier, not only as investigators but also as members of steering committees of international research projects,” said Ms Urbańska.

For over 10 years Servier has been working with the Polish Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Pharmacology in Kraków and the Pharmacology Department of the Medical University of Łódź.

Currently, the company conducts research in several therapeutic areas, including cardiology, in particular hypertension, coronary heart disease, heart failure or prevention of cardiovascular diseases or cardiac arrhythmia, as well as in the area of diabetes, rheumatology, psychiatry and neurology, all in relation to chronic diseases that substantially affect the quality and comfort of life of the patient.

Sustainability

In Servier’s case, sustainable development means integrating certain key elements – human capital, as well as social, economic and scientific potential.

“Finding a balance be-tween investment in manufacture and research is a fundamental thing,” said Ms Urbańska.

Each year, the company invests nearly 25 percent of its turnover in clinical trials and innovative therapeutic solutions.

Servier Poland is involved in initiatives aiming at increasing patients’ awareness of diseases that constitute a major social problem, and prevention of such diseases.

“The key to success is awareness of the risk. That is why patients’ health education is so important,” said Ms Urbańska.

For that purpose, the company sponsors a number of initiatives, including social education and information initiatives conducted as part of the “Servier w trosce o twoje zdrowie” (“Servier Cares For Your Health”) campaign, under the auspices of Polish scientific medical associations, such as the Polish Society of Hypertension, the Polish Diabetes Association, and the Polish Phlebological Society.

About Servier

Founded in 1954, French pharmaceutical company Servier is now present in 140 countries, with more than 20,000 employees, including close to 3,000 in R&D.

The company has been present in Poland since 1992, focusing on research into new drugs, drug manufacturing and distribution, information science and health education.
Currently, Servier employs 550 qualified workers responsible for research and studies, production and promotion. Nearly 96 percent of the staff have university degrees in various fields; most of them studied medicine and related sciences.

PricewaterhouseCoopers data shows that Servier had invested a total of zł.620.5 million in its activities in Poland as of September 2011.