THE SCIENCE OF SUCCESS The Hungarian arm of global pharmaceutical giant Sanofi is committed to upholding the country’s tradition for excellent chemistry. Emma-Jane Batey spoke to the managing director, Christophe Gourlet, to find out how this is being achieved.
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ith its head office in Budapest, the Hungarian activities for global pharmaceutical corporation Sanofi are spread across three state-of-the-art production facilities. Present through all business areas of the group, with extensive capabilities in R&D, chemistry, pharmaceutical production and its own sophisticated international distribution platform, Sanofi in Hungary is a valued member of the global Sanofi family. Sanofi is the world’s fourth largest pharmaceutical company, with more than 105,000 employees across its activities in over 110 countries, including nearly 19,000 researchers dedicated to developing new
and improved formulas and products. The world’s leading vaccine manufacturer, Sanofi Pasteur provides vaccines to over 500 million people each year.
Yesterday, today and tomorrow Sanofi Hungary has its production facilities in Budapest, Csanyikvölgy and Veresgyház – each carefully equipped with the latest machinery needed to create advanced pharmaceutical solutions. When the company acquired the 10 year-old local pharmaceutical and chemistry company Chinoin Inc in 1991 the whole Hungarian operation underwent a considerable investment programme, which continues to pay dividends today.
Managing director Christophe Gourlet told Industry Europe how this investment adds value to the company: “At the time of the acquisition we underwent a major investment programme to ensure that our scientists had access to the very latest equipment. The massive revamp of our Hungarian facilities at that time allowed us to really cement our market-leading position and we have remained dedicated to continual improvement and maintenance ever since, meaning that our facilities have stayed impressive for more than two decades.” Sanofi Hungary is now realising the value of its considerable investment 20 years ago as the developments and innovations gener-
