Providing safety and giving access to the best healthcare products - Faes Farma

Pharmaceutics is the profession that links our desire of being health with the field of chemical sciences and it is charged with ensuring the safe and effective use of pharmaceutical drugs. The word pharmaceutics derives from the Greek ph-ar-maki which means: who provides a safety. Providing safety and giving access to the best healthcare products to everyone, Spanish pharmaceuticals company, Faes Farma meets their commitments dealing mainly with the manufacture and marketing of pharmaceutical products (prescription drugs, over-the-counter medications and skin-care treatments) and raw-materials for pharmaceutical use.

The research oriented Company
Faes Farma, founded in 1933, is a publicly traded Spanish pharmaceutical company, listed on the Madrid Stock Exchange (FAE), with market operations in Spain and Portugal and with presence in more than 60 countries. Faes Farma is a research oriented company that develops, manufactures and markets prescription drugs, OTC products and raw material Over three-fourths of century, Faes Farma, in a cogent, strategic expansion process, has added its current subsidiaries: Iquinosa Farma and Laboratorios Lazlo Internacional, both located in Madrid, Laboratorios Vitoria in Lisbon, and Ingaso, a facility oriented to the animal health, based in Rioja, all create an operational, sound pharmaceuticals group. With near 800 people working in the Iberian Peninsula, the Faes Group has its three Manufacturing Plants, where various business opportunities are analyzed. Faes Farma has been doing a great effort to strengthen its product portfolio and commercial activity through a strategy of acquisitions, licensing and distribution agreements. For the last 20 years, Faes Farma has had a long track record of commercial agreements with corporations such as Sanofi-Aventis, GSK, Lilly, Merck KgaA, Tillotts, Italfármaco, Roche, MSD, etc. At present, Faes Farma is seeking collaborative opportunities in the fields of Bone and Metabolism, GI, Respiratory CNS, CVS and Gynaecology .

The Company snapshot
There are three manufacturing facilities (Bilbao 11452 square meters, Rioja 4000 square meters, Lisbon 8572 square meters) working under Good Manufacturing Practice standards, producing a total of 30,5 m units, whereof 8,5 m are for third parties. The company manufactures tablets, capsules, creams, suppositories, ampoules, drops and syrups. 98 people are engaged in R&D. Faes Farma has great experience in the discovery of new chemical entities and developing them as new drugs. Scientists and researchers at different universities, collaborate in developing part of the projects and studies related to new molecules. In this sense, tight collaboration has been established since a long time with the Pharmacology and Analytical Chemistry Departments at the University of the Basque Country. To support its research and development activity, Faes Farma has established collaboration agreements with several universities, technological centers as well as public and private institutions. Main research fields are focused on Allergy, CNS (Alzheimer and depression), Cancer and immunomodulation. The R&D and innovation strategy at FAES FARMA mainly focuses on its active participation in collaborative projects with other pharmaceutical companies and academic research groups which allows FAES FARMA to have a broader field of knowledge and research capabilities to maintain its current qualification of “Excellent” within the PROFARMA framework, together with the most prestigious and competitive Pharma companies .

A significant step…
The main Business Development and Licensing department mission is to look for products to improve their portfolio, commercialization agreements to maximize sales force, project collaborations, acquisitions (products, business units) and any other business opportunity to make the company grow. Bone and Metabolism, Cardiovascular, Respiratory, and Gastrointestinal are key drug categories for this Spanish Company. They are actively working in spreading out Faes Farma name all over the world, establishing relationships with other companies involved in drug developing (R&D) and product commercialization (prescription, OTC, hospitals and generics). The partner collaborations usually come in the form of licenses (in-licensing), commercialization agreements (comarketing, copromotion, distribution), licenses from our own molecules (out-licensing), codeveloping R&D projects (codevelopment) or acquisitions (products, business units, companies). The company is taking part in Customatized Eye Care (CeyeC) the most ambitious project in Ophthalmology undertaken yet in Spain. CeyeC will undertake R&D on personalised and minimally invase Ophthalmology, aiming at offering solutions and treatments for a series of pathologies and sight disporders that make up 99% of the eye diseases in Spain and world- wide. Faes Farma joined the consortium to transfer its knowledge in other areas of biomedicine to Opthalmology and vision care applying anti-allergy drugs that have been approved for systemic use to ocular formulations. Faes Farma welcomes approaches from potential collaborators offering products or opportunities which match Faes’s strategic focus areas. Faes Farma shows a flexible and fast-moving capability to business deriving simplicity to execute agreements. Everything they do at Faes Farma’s laboratories it is because of constant improving the quality of Customer’s life standard. Taking this fact into consideration, every investment should contribute to the operational success of Faes Farma. For that particular reason the Company has not only the new equipment but also a new technology that ideally combines quality and efficiency. The consistent sound of development brought an Uhlmann Blister Expres Center 500 which has been in operation in Bilbao since 2008. It was a significant and important step toward maximum flexibility and machine availability. The Company has implemented significant changes. They are not only looking for new equipment, but they like to purchase a new technology. Quality and efficiency are the most important arguments for them. The new technology (for example the production lines) can play a key role and would bring them a great opportunity in the packaging enterprise.

The team spirit
At Faes Farma, they encourage highly qualified staff and what is more they hire people for their skills, talents, and potential. Employees are a team members who are gently push to refine theirs skills and broaden theirs horizons. As Faes Farma’s capabilities grow, new challenges will evolve and the possibilities are unlimited. They know very well that ultimately, employees want to enjoy what they do, make meaningful contributions, receive fair compensation and have the opportunity to grow, for that reason they are working hard to make that happen. Faes Farmas’s success is grounded in the core values they have stressed since theirs beginnings: an ethic of honesty and service, quality work for Customer satisfaction and what is one of the most important pillars for them: caring about people’s health. They never want to stop growing, learning and improving. Their aspiration is to be the leading Company in Spain and at the same time offering opportunities to advance. Faes Farma´s people are enjoying what they do, they are passionate about making meaningful proyects and invatigations. It’s a lofty goal and one that the Company strive to achieve every day. The loyalty and dedication of its employees can be attributed to the way the Company regards its human capital. A component of their mission statement is:encouraging all crew to learn , develop and to provide the opportunity to reach personal career objectives, in an environment that inspires team spirit, high achievement and continuous improvement. Faes Farma´s employees are encouraged and supported in pursuing their education. They foster an open and friendly environment where we recognize that each member of the team is an integral part of this beautiful mosaic. 

Written by Katarzyna Olszowska