\nEMS
\nHeadcount<\/strong>
\n5,000
\nR&D Center<\/strong>
\nHortol\u00e2ndia, S\u00e3o Paulo
\nR&D staff<\/strong>
\n400, across researchers, technicians, and administrative staff
\nMain products<\/strong>
\nGeneric drugs<\/div>\n
Reinaldo Guimar\u00e3es, a former vice president of the Brazilian Association of Fine Chemistry, Biotechnology, and Specialties Industries (ABIFINA), says investing in biotechnology is becoming a matter of survival for pharma companies. \u201cBiotechnology is the future of the pharma industry. It is growing at a fast pace and pure chemical synthesis firms are at risk of losing chunks of market share in the next 10 years,\u201d says the physician, who previously served as Secretary for Science, Technology, and Strategic Procurement at the Ministry of Health from 2007 to 2010.<\/p>\n
Adriano Andricopulo, a professor at the S\u00e3o Carlos Institute of Physics at the University of S\u00e3o Paulo (USP), believes Brace has been one of the most exciting initiatives in Brazil\u2019s pharma industry in recent years. \u201cIt will provide an opportunity to leverage US expertise to develop new compounds and technologies in the world\u2019s most important R&D market,\u201d says Andricopulo, who is head of technology transfer at the Center for Research and Innovation in Biodiversity and Drug Discovery (CIBFAR), one of the Research, Innovation, and Dissemination Centers (RIDC) funded by FAPESP.<\/p>\n
Andricopulo hopes Brazilian scientists will benefit from interacting with some of the renowned drug discovery researchers on Brace\u2019s Scientific Advisory Board: 2000 Nobel Prize winner Eric Kandel; Samuel Broder, who codeveloped some of the first AIDS drugs; Raymond Schinazi, who has developed drugs for hepatitis and AIDS; and Peter Hirth, who has experience in biotechnology as a researcher and executive at US pharmaceutical companies. \u201cBut it would also be beneficial if radical innovation projects were developed in Brazil through technology transfer between industry and universities,\u201d says Andricopulo, who is a former president of the Brazilian Chemistry Society.<\/p>\n
EMS has increasingly invested in the development of complex generics<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Incremental innovation<\/strong>
\nAlongside its Brace Pharma investment, EMS is also placing its money on the development of highly complex generic drugs, which require new analytical methods to be developed to demonstrate their effectiveness.<\/p>\nAmong the highly complex generic drugs in the company\u2019s portfolio is cyclosporine microemulsion, an immunosuppressant used to prevent transplant organ rejection. According to Marcus Sanchez, EMS has been the exclusive producer of this drug in Latin America for more than 17 years, making it one of the company\u2019s chief exports.<\/p>\n
Eduardo Cesar<\/span><\/a> A gas chromatography center, where volatile compounds are separated and quantifiedEduardo Cesar<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n
EMS has also engaged in incremental innovation in the form of more efficient formulations for existing reference medicinal products (innovative products that have been approved and are being marketed in Brazil, the effectiveness, safety, and quality of which have been scientifically demonstrated). A case in point is Patz SL, a drug launched in 2012 based on the active ingredient zolpidem, used for insomnia. The company improved on the conventional tablet dosage form by creating a version for sublingual administration that delivers the drug directly into the bloodstream, producing a faster effect with half the normal dose.<\/p>\n
Another way of achieving incremental innovation has been by combining different active ingredients together, as the company did in the development of Esogastro IBP, a drug for Helicobacter pylori<\/em> infection, which causes chronic gastritis. EMS developed a proprietary combination of esomeprazole to control gastric acidity and two antibiotics (amoxicillin and clarithromycin) in a single formulation, creating a novel drug based on well-known active ingredients.<\/p>\n
Incremental innovation and complex generics development at the EMS R&D Center are funded with annual investment of 6% of the company’s revenue. In 2016 the company posted total revenue of R$10.7 billion. \u201cWe currently have about 50 programs at various stages of development in our pipeline, and aim to complete 12 to 15 new programs each year,\u201d says Sanchez.<\/p>\n
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