Azersun Holding plans to get one third of local pharma market

Azersun Holding, the largest player in Azerbaijan’s food industry, plans to take 20-30 percent of Azerbaijan’s pharmaceutical market, Company CEO Savas Uzan told reporters in Baku on April 29.

Currently, Azersun Holding together with the Azerbaijan Investment Company and Iran’s Tamin Pharmaceutical Investment Company is building a pharmaceutical plant in the Pirallahi Industrial Park.

Uzan said that Azersun Holding’s share will depend on the production capacity of the plant itself.

The construction of the plant began in early 2017. The project cost is more than $20 million. The project will consist of 3 stages. In the first phase there will be production of pills and capsules, ampoule and vial - in the second stage and production of antibiotic drugs will be in third stage.

At the first stage, 200 million tablets and capsules, as well as 84 drugs, including essential ones for treatment of heart diseases, contagious diseases, non-communicable diseases, as well as various types of antibiotics and painkillers are expected to be produced at the plant annually.

The construction of the Caspian Pharmed will be completed in the third quarter 2018.

Currently, Azerbaijan produces only a minuscule share of the medicines that it consumes, while the majority of pharmaceutical production is being imported.

The import of drugs in 2016 increased by 20 percent compared to 2015. In 2016, some 80 percent of drugs were imported from Europe and other developed countries. The remainder of the imports came in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.

In late 2015, the government of the country announced that it will create own enterprises on manufacture of medicines to cease dependence on imports.

The foundation of the pharmaceutical complex "Hayat Farm” was laid in Pirallahi Industrial Park in November, 2016. This is a joint venture with a group of companies R-Pharm (Russian Federation), Vita-A LLC (Azerbaijan) and AIC.

The total preliminary investment in the project exceeds $70 million. The plant should be producing finished products by the end of 2019.

Azerbaijan Investment Company (AIC) and VPS Healthcare Company (UAE) are planning to lay the foundation of a joint pharmaceutical plant in the Pirallahi Industrial Park in summer 2017.