General Manager and Board Member of Onko Pharmaceuticals Tuğba Koç who is

We performed an interview with Tuğba Koç who is General Manager and Board Member of Onko Pharmaceuticals. And talked about R&D center, investments of the company also the importance of technology in medical science.

Can you tell us about yourself and your professional background?

I was born in İstanbul. In 2004, I completed my graduate studies at Miami University as an honor student majoring in Industrial Engineering and minoring in Mathematics. I continued at the same university as a postgraduate student and completed my master's degrees in Industrial Engineering and Business Administration in 2005. I started my professional life in the US as a consultant for three different companies on three different projects in 2006. I did an internship in the Marketing and Manufacturing departments of an international company. In 2008, I joined Onko Koçsel Pharmaceutical's Board of Directors. Since 2008, I have been serving as the company's General Manager for Marketing, Sales, and Production. I am also a member of TÜSİAD, DEİK, Kocaeli Female Entrepreneurs Association and Pembe İzler Society. I was elected as Chairwoman of the Kocaeli Chamber of Industry Professional Committee in April 2018. I am also working in the Medical and Agricultural Chemicals Group Committee.

Which medical areas do you focus on for your scientific research and production?

We are producing oncologic drugs, sterile liquids, non-sterile solids and non-oncologic non-sterile liquids in our facilities. We are an experienced company in a rather specialized and narrow field. Consequently, our priority is to contribute to human health and to present diagnosis and treatment options to our community and our country and then to the world, especially in oncology, hematology, radiology and rheumatology. Today, we hold licenses for 89 drugs, 36 of which are our own production. Our wide portfolio includes plasma-derived products, contrast materials used in CT and magnetic resonance imaging, oncology and oncology supportive products, tumor profiling services, and rheumatology products. Our goal is to increase this number to 200 within the next 3 years. Our main objective, of course, is to bring these newly developed products to market as quickly as possible.

What are the investments you make in R&D as Onko Pharmaceuticals? What can you tell us about the Onko Isolation Technology you use in your R&D center?

The Onko Pharmaceuticals R&D Center was approved by the Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology in September 2015 and is currently active as the first oncology R&D center capable of conducting production with GMP license. Most of our facilities, including our R&D center, use European equipment. In fact, nearly all of our equipment is supplied by world-renowned German machine manufacturers. Additionally, our R&D center has an Analytic Development Laboratory, Formulation Development Laboratory, Pilot Production and Stability areas and is equipped with nearly 200 machines, devices and pieces of equipment featuring cutting-edge technology. Unlike similar facilities, Onko Pharmaceuticals has a Pilot Production and Laboratory area designed in accordance with the production workflow. Onko Pharmaceuticals operates the largest and most comprehensively equipped R&D center in oncology in the Turkish Pharmaceutical Industry. The machines we use in the production of oncology drugs are designed according to one of the highest Occupational Exposure Level standards (OEL 4/5). We are the first and only factory in Turkey that works with high-tech equipment and machines with containment capabilities, ensuring complete protection of the environment and our employees in R&D lines and laboratories.

The international market is growing rapidly in our main area of activity; oncology.

Can you tell us about the precautions you take to protect the environment and human health during production and the social responsibility projects you organize?

With the high-technology machines and equipment featuring isolation and containment capabilities that we use in oncology drug production, we ensure that employees have zero contact with toxic materials and products while also preventing these toxic materials from harming the environment. These machines are located in custom-designed production areas. As a secondary precaution, waste air collected from these production areas is filtered through special filters (HEPA) before exiting through the chimneys. This way, we can utilize high-technology to produce our products without harming our employees or the environment. As Onko Pharmaceuticals, we are providing important economic value to our country's balance while transferring the sectoral knowledge and experience we have accumulated to other countries through our global vision and projects, making high-quality cancer drugs in international markets more accessible. In doing so, we take pride in knowing that we are contributing to improving the quality of life and even extending the lifespans of many cancer patients.