ABDİ İBRAHİM AND ALVOTECH ENTER STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP IN BIOTECHNOLOGY

Nezih Barut, Chairman of Abdi İbrahim Pharmaceuticals

Abdi İbrahim, Turkey’s leading pharmaceutical company having built the largest biotechnological manufacturing facility of the country, entered a strategic partnership with the Icelandic pharmaceutical company Alvotech to manufacture and launch biotechnology drugs in Turkey.

Turkey’s pharmaceutical leader Abdi İbrahim signed a strategic partnership agreement with the Icelandic counterpart Alvotech for the manufacturing, launch and distribution of biotechnological products. The first phase of the agreement pertain to the critical biological drugs used in rheumatology immunology, dermatology and gastroenterology. which will beproduced at AbdiBio and Alvotech, its cutting-edge production facility. This strategic collaboration is expected to thrive with new products in the future.

Alvotech is a fully integrated biopharmaceutical company with its R&D and clinical study management centers located in Switzerland and Germany, and production facilities in Iceland including an IP and regulatory competence center in US

The company focuses on the development and the manufacture of first class biotech products for global markets. Boasting a wide range of products delivered from the new biotech facility in Iceland’s Reykjavik, Alvotech is specialized in delivering biotech products across the entire supply chain spanning the cell line development and production. Abdi İbrahim’s strategic partnership with Alvotech marks a remarkable step in the localization and technology transfer of biological products to Turkey, which are currently almost fully imported.

The signature ceremony gathered Nezih Barut, Chairman at Abdi İbrahim, Süha Taşpolatoğlu, Abdi İbrahim CEO as well as Robert Wessman, Alvotech Chairman on May 3, 2019 at Abdi İbrahim Tower.

“We aim to turn Turkey into a manufacturing base”

Abdi İbrahim Chairman Nezih Barut told at the ceremony that the global use of biological drugs reach around 20 percent of the total market, and Turkey joins this global biotech uptrend. Barut added that Abdi İbrahim remarkably contributes to the Turkish economy and pharma industry with high-tech investments, building on an experience of 107 years, and driven by its passion for healing. ‘’We remain as a pioneer in biotech investments, as well. We have set biotechnology as a field of strategic priority,” said Nezih Barut and elaborated on the motives behind this move: ‘Biological drugs account for 33 percent of the imported goods in the Turkish pharmaceutical market. Almost all of the biological drugs available are imported. At Abdi İbrahim, we believe that such a biotech pharmaceutical supply model that is based completely on import can not be sustained by our country. We invest with this vision in mind. Opening a cutting edge biotech facility, not just by domestic but the international standards, our goal was to develop and manufacture these key products in our country and relieve the import dependency. We think that this will both improve patient access to the said medicines and add value to domestic economy as a consequence of a smaller trade deficit. Noting that Abdi İbrahim is the fiercest supporter of localization in pharma, Nezih Barut continued: “This agreement enables us to manufacture biotech products of Alvotech, our strategic partner. It involves technology transfer for biological drugs in rheumatology immunology, dermatology and gastroenterology. Convinced that this deal heralds a long-term cooperation between the two parties, we are planning to expand the scope of this agreement with innovative additions”.

Delivering his account of the partnership at the ceremony, Alvotech Chairman  Robert Wessman said: “ “We are very proud to announce our strategic alliance with Abdi Ibrahim –  leader of Turkish pharmaceutical market. We strongly believe that in combining Alvotech’s significant manufacturing capacity and high value biosimilars portfolio with Abdi Ibrahim’s deep market experience and local manufacturing capacity, will benefit patients in Turkey, that will get better access to high-quality biosimilars.”