A rival to Bioton is growing quietly

MAG
opublikowano: 2008-08-25 11:56

Warsaw (Puls Biznesu) - Adamed wants to buy Polfa Tarchomin, the state-owned medicine producer and promote its insulin. Adam Wilczega, Bioton head, has so far shared the Polish insulin market with Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly. But Maciej Adamkiewicz, the owner of Adamed, wants to win quickly a big piece of the market. There is only one way to do this: he must acquire troubled Polfa Tarchomin from the state. In a longer perspective, this can really threaten the position of Bioton, analysts believe.

Adamed is a family business. If it acquires state-owned Polfa Tarchomin, it may become a serious player on the biotechnological market.

“We are interested in the privatization of this company because of its interesting products”, Anna Czajkowska, member of Adamed board said.

Adamed is not discouraged with bad situation of Polfa which, according to Jan Bury, the deputy minister of the treasury, faces bankruptcy.

“We are aware of Polfa troubles. Despite this, we are looking forward to privatization although the time is running out and rivals are active so Polfa’s attractiveness gets smaller and smaller. Its products which are complementary to ours, need marketing. The most attractive one is insulin which annual sales reach PLN 800m (EUR 242.4m). We would like to become a serious player on this market”, Anna Czajkowska said.

Today, there are three main insulin producers in Poland: Danish Novo Nordisk, US Eli Lilly and listed Bioton.

Adamed keeps investing in its own medicines.

“For five years, we have invested PLN 100m of our own funds in research and development. We got PLN 7.5m of EU subsidy. We have subsidies of PLN 33m for an oncology project and PLN 16.4m for a neurology one. This year, we will spend further PLN 35m from our own funds. We will spend similar funds in the future”, Anna Czajkowska enumerated.

The  most advanced project should be clinically tested at the end of 2009. Other products will be tested within 2-4 years. Then, the company will look for a strategic partner.

In 2007, Adamed had PLN 380m of sales. The Polish medicine producer plans to increase sales by 12 percent this year and catch up with listed Bioton. According to ‘Wprost’ weekly, the company had PLN 110m of net income last year. Bioton, the listed biotechnology company, had PLN 271m of sales. This year, it plans to have over PLN 400m.

(PLN 1 = EUR 0.303)