CEO’s statement
The acquisition of BioPhausia in 2011 was a clear and conscious step on the way towards Medivir’s express goal of becoming a profitable research-based pharmaceutical company. This acquisition included BioPhausia’s portfolio of prescription pharmaceuticals, and Cross Pharma, together generating yearly sales of half a billion Swedish kronor with good profitability. In addition, Medivir gained a complementary organization with experience of marketing and selling pharmaceuticals. Maris Hartmanis has been CEO of the Medivir Group since September 2011.
– Through the acquisition of BioPhausia, Medivir became a more commercial and complete company with unique breadth for its size. Its business now covers the whole chain from the early discovery phase within preclinical pharmaceutical development, to marketing and selling, as well as the parallel import of, pharmaceuticals.
Commercial and operational expertise
As a research and development company, Medivir focuses on infectious diseases with world-leading know-how in the target enzymes, polymerases and proteases. The acquisition of BioPhausia brought the specialist know-how in marketing and sales that Medivir did not possess. The Group has now laid the foundation for the competence necessary for the expected launch and commercialization of Medivir’s leading project in hepatitis C, simeprevir (TMC435).
One of the primary tasks for the coming year is to keep working on integrating both companies’ know-how, experience and disciplines. Medivir has the know-how and resources for developing pharmaceuticals right through the preclinical, and into the clinical, development phases. BioPhausia brings know-how and resources in the regulatory segment, pharmacovigilance, purchasing, logistics, distribution, marketing and sales. In the best possible way, we will use both companies’ strengths to build the profitable research-driven pharmaceutical company that we want to become on the Nordic market.
An attractive collaboration partner
Medivir’s research and development into new and improved pharmaceuticals is the base of the business. The second big task for us in 2012 is to retain our status as a partner of choice among the pharmaceutical companies that team up with us and to tie in new collaboration partners. With our creativity and competence, we are constantly creating new, attractive research and development projects, any of which could be significant, to ourselves, our partners and patients. Another goal is to drive selected projects further into clinical phases in-house to create incremental value.
We’ve attracted a lot of attention – and deservedly so – for simeprevir, the flagship of our current portfolio. This project represents a significant portion of our enterprise value, and there are hopes that simeprevir will be one of those pharmaceuticals that substantially improve the proportion of patients actually cured and the quality of life for people with the most severe, and also most common, strain of hepatitis C. We expect our partner to be able to file a registration application for this pharmaceutical in the US, Europe and Japan in the first half-year 2013.
Our own revenues
Our product portfolio of prescription pharmaceuticals, and the parallel import of pharmaceuticals run by Cross Pharma, have brought the group new revenue streams and market presence. We view this as a step towards us reducing our financial risk, with profits being reinvested in new pharmaceuticals and in our own research and development. We are sticking with our strategy, and holding firm on our course towards Medivir becoming a profitable pharmaceutical company.
Maris Hartmanis
Chief Executive Officer
March 2012
