Progressive innovator Bioveta

PROGRESSIVE INNOVATOR

Bioveta, a Czech producer of biological and pharmaceutical medicinal products, is a recognised innovator in its sector and strives to maintain its reputation as such. In the near future, the company plans to launch several ground-breaking products for both veterinary and human treatment applications. Romana Moares reports.

The joint stock company Bioveta, based in Ivanovice na Hané, has a tradition of veterinary biological products and pharmaceuticals research & development reaching back nearly 100 years. Today, its innovative products can be found throughout the world.

In recent years, sales have been continuously increasing: in 2015 they reached CZK 1.37 billion and the management expects a further increase of 11 per cent in 2016. “We will strive to sustain this positive trend,” confirms Mr Vladimir Vrzal, a member of the board of directors. The company consists of four divisions: veterinary, human, laboratory animal breeding and preparation testing.

Core business

The product portfolio currently includes about 150 products for diagnostics and treatment of the medical conditions of farm and domestic animals. In addition to the development and production of its own brands, Bioveta makes medicinal products for global brands on a sub-contract basis. Bioveta has its own biological and pharmaceutical product development facility, which currently deals with a total of 18 new pharmaceutical preparations and 33 new biological products. Another 35 preparations are listed as ‘waiting to be included in the research and development plan’. These figures demonstrate a substantial research and innovation potential which enables the company to successfully launch six to eight new products onto the European market each year. “I believe our research covers more or less all areas of farm and domestic animal breeding and will continue to do so in the future,” claims Libor Bittner, managing director and the chairman of the board. Given the impressive track record in its traditional field, the company’s management decided to utilise its extensive experience and know-how in the field of human medicine. At the moment, an innovative candida and bacterial medicinal product (Candivac) for the prevention of reoccurrence of candida-based vulvovaginitis is in the process of being registered with the drug authorities.

“The registration process has been going very well and we are now in the stage of clinical trials. But Candivac will not be the only medicinal product we will register for human treatment. We have several other very interesting and highly socially beneficial preparations in the pipeline,” says Mr Bittner.

Investing in growth

Bioveta a.s. works continually to improve the standard of proper manufacturing, laboratory and distribution work. In 2014 it commissioned a new bio-technological hall housing two new filling lines and new lyophilisation equipment, increasing the production capacity of lyophilised vaccines by 200 per cent. The new biotechnological hall, worth more than €12 million, uses the very latest production facilities and technology and has introduced considerable innovations in the production of anti-bacterial and anti-virus vaccines in liquid and freeze-dried form, making production many times more efficient. The investment has allowed Bioveta a.s. to meet the ever-increasing demand for veterinary vaccines from customers from Europe and elsewhere.

In order to cope with the increasing demand for its products and services, Bioveta is currently investing another €15 million into new manufacturing and research premises within its Ivanovice na Hané headquarters. The new premises should enable Bioveta to increase its production capacity for vaccines, as well as to extend space to accommodate more research projects focused on vaccines for third parties.

The new multi-purpose hall, entitled ‘The Research and Development Centre for Virus Vaccines’, will house, among other things, several auxiliary work stations, such as nutrient cultivators, working glass washing and so on to support production. Investment,

however, does not stop there. “Later, in 2016, we plan to build a single modern adjustment centre,” reveals the managing director. “This project will start in the autumn of 2016 and be completed in the course of 2017. The construction alone will cost about CZK 60 million,” he explains.

Facing the future

Bioveta is a strongly export-oriented company, shipping its products to over 85 countries around the globe. Over 85 per cent of total output is sold in the export markets and the figure is steadily increasing. Key exported products are a rabies vaccine for the oral immunisation of foxes and other types of vaccines for a range of farm and companion animals.

“We plan to widen our export territories to include, for example, the regions of south-west Asia, New Zealand and Latin America,” says Mr Vrzal. “We will also strive to boost sales of our products in western Europe and the United States. The plan is to open branches in a number of countries so that we are as close to our customers as possible. This is extremely important for gaining good knowledge of what our customers want and need and to be able to respond in a most flexible and timely manner. This is, in a nutshell, our medium and long-term strategy,” he explains.

Both Mr Bittner and Mr Vrzal further confirm that the development and production of registered human pharmaceuticals will remain in the focus. “As I said before, we are now entering the stage of clinical trials for Candivac and we have several other human medicinal products, all of which will bring important social benefits, ready to be tested. For competitive reasons I cannot reveal more details but the markets, and first of all the general public, will be pleasantly surprised,” concludes Mr Bittner. n