Actavis chief executive, Dr Claudio Albrecht, has controversially suggested that Germany is not a good breeding ground for the manufacturing of generic drugs.

Albrecht, who was appointed to his current position at the Icelandic generic drug manufacturer in June, claimed that the company was making progress in pinning down niche markets despite the global recession biting hard, but insisted that “Germany is not an attractive location for business.”

“Germany has changed very much over the last years and is now hardly attractive as a location for a generic drugs manufacturer,” he told Pharma Adhoc in his first interview since assuming his post at Actavis. “The sell-out of the once world-leading German generics industry gives proof of this. Despite this situation, we do not want to leave the market but want to expand out market share.

“In addition to a wide range of generic drugs, we also have a line of well-known brand products that do not fall under the ruinous competitive bidding process in Germany, as well as an established hospital organisation that is already very strong in areas of local anaesthetics and antibiotics, and that will be increasingly present in oncology in the future. The range of OTC products can still be improved but we are on the right track to claiming niche markets.”
The global finincial crisis appeared to accelerate the sale of Actavis this year, with creditors around Deutsche Bank agreeing on a refinancing plan and appointing Albrecht, the former head of Ratiopharm, as chief executive. Albrecht played down rumours that Actavis was up for sale.

“Our industry is notorious for the speed at which rumours spread,” he said. “I cannot confirm that we were actively seeking a buyer for Actavis. There are of course talks about a closer co-operation with our competitors time and again, but we never officially entered a selling process. We are firmly aiming at restoring the company's financial strength, investment attractiveness and consequently its competitiveness for the future.”

The future for the generic drugs industry and drugs companies, Albrecht mainatained, depends on the companies investing “significantly higher amounts in research and development.” He added: “With the emerging tendering niche suppliers will occasionally score successes, but this cannot be a long-term strategy or a calculable corporate concept. Focusing on short-term profits through tendering is no sustainable plan, it is pure gamble.

“Dimensions are changing, the future lies with those who are financially and technologically able to push development of the new generation of pharmaceuticals and to sell it across a wide territory. Germany is currently basing its provision of pharmaceuticals on niche suppliers; that, too, is not a sustainable strategy.”
Albrecht believes that brand name generic drugs, in the short term, are losing their importance, particularly on the Western markets. “The eastern European markets will follow the trend, at the latest once the social security systems force the states to lower costs. In the long run, however, the significance of brands will increase,” he said.

“The entire big future market of biosimilars is entirely located in the brand segment. The more unique selling points products have, the more of a role the brand is going to play. In addition, there will be room for a wide spectrum of mass medication indicating nothing but the names of active ingredients – but this will hardly be products of Europe or the USA. The winners in this area will be the good suppliers from the Asian markets.”