Koçak Farma General Manager Dr. Hakan Koçak

We conducted a pleasant interview with Uzm. Dr. Hakan Koçak, CEO and General Director of Koçak Farma İlaç ve Kimya San. A.Ş., discussing the company's importance to Turkey, its areas of activity, and the sector.

Could you briefly tell us about yourself and your professional background?

I was born in Adana in 1960. I graduated from Kabataş Erkek Lisesi in 1977 and from Cerrahpaşa Medical Faculty in 1984, where I also completed my specialization in Internal Medicine at the same faculty. After serving as a medical officer at Istanbul Çamlıca Military Hospital, I joined Koçak Farma İlaç ve Kimya San. A.Ş., entering the pharmaceutical sector. I currently serve as CEO and General Director at Koçak Farma İlaç ve Kimya San. A.Ş.

Could you provide information about Koçak Farma's success story and its importance to Turkey?

Koçak Farma was established in 1971 and began operations with the production of pharmaceutical products. In 1982, it produced many pharmaceutical raw materials for the first time in Turkey. Over the 47 years since its establishment, Koçak Farma has brought more than 600 medicines into medical service and has pioneered innovative developments in the sector. Indeed, Koçak Farma is a leader in the domestic production of cancer medicines. One out of every two boxes of cancer medicine used in Turkey is a Koçak Farma product. Koçak Farma has established Turkey's first biotechnology product production facilities in Çerkezköy Organized Industrial Zone. Koçak Farma has domestically produced Turkey's first biotechnology product with the active ingredient Enoxaparin Sodium. Koçak Farma has produced Turkey's first biosimilar Insulin Glargine. In our R&D center, approximately 100 scientists and specialists are successfully advancing projects for the production of Biosimilar Insulins, Monoclonal Antibodies (mAb), and Viral and Bacterial Vaccines. [the_ad id="105219"] When Koçak Farma began its operations in the sector approximately half a century ago, the country's pharmaceutical needs were met to a significant extent through imports. Believing that an import-dependent pharmaceutical supply model was not sustainable for our country's economy and development, our company has set an example in the sector with domestic and national medicines it produces, provided savings to public finance, and contributed to reducing the current account deficit.

How do you define your quality policy to maintain the highest level of quality in your products?

The pharmaceutical industry is a sector where product quality is of vital importance and the ability to produce internationally recognized standard-quality products is indispensable. Compliance with relevant regulations is primarily important in ensuring that medicines are produced to standard quality. Koçak Farma products are manufactured in production facilities equipped with advanced technology in compliance with national and international standards and GMP regulations. Production work is improved through internal and external inspections and training, and a sustainable corporate quality policy created with employee participation is meticulously applied. "The pharmaceutical industry is a sector where product quality is of vital importance and the ability to produce internationally recognized standard-quality products is indispensable."

What are your production divisions? Could you tell us about your product varieties?

Koçak Farma produces approximately 600 types of medicines across all therapeutic areas of medicine. It provides medicines it produces in virtually all medical fields—including oncology, obstetrics and gynecology, cardiology, urology, internal medicine, endocrinology, diabetes, rheumatology, physical therapy, nephrology, dialysis, dermatology, psychiatry, pediatrics, orthopedics, surgery, and intensive care—to the service of national and international medicine. Koçak Farma Raw Materials, Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Pharmaceutical Production Facilities, established over an area of 140,000 m² and with 100,000 m² of enclosed space in Çerkezköy Organized Industrial Zone, equipped with state-of-the-art technology, have a production capacity of 500 million boxes/year. The Istanbul/Ayazağa Serum Production Facilities acquired from Eczacıbaşı-Baxter company are established over an area of 50,000 m² and have a production capacity of 80 million units/year.

Could you provide information about your Biotechnology Pharmaceutical Production Facility established within the scope of investment incentives?

Our Biotechnology Product Production Facilities and our R&D center, accredited by the Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology, were established in Çerkezköy Organized Industrial Zone within the scope of a total fixed investment incentive of TRY 1,100,000,000. Research and development work for the medicines to be produced is carried out by approximately 100 scientists and specialists. As a result of this work, Analog Insulins, Biosimilar Monoclonal Antibodies (mAb), and Viral and Bacterial Vaccines will be domestically produced in biotechnology pharmaceutical production facilities equipped with advanced technology. Through this strategically important investment, Turkey's import dependency and current account deficit in high-value-added technological medicines will be significantly reduced. Turkey's first domestically produced biological medicine, Enoxaparin Sodium, and its first domestic biosimilar insulin, Glargine, produced in our biotechnology pharmaceutical production facilities, have been brought into medical service.

What are your views on R&D? What are Koçak Farma's R&D initiatives?

Biotechnology pharmaceutical production is a multi-component process requiring strong R&D support, advanced technology, trained human resources, and specially equipped facilities with specialized infrastructure. Our organization continues R&D work at the R&D center accredited by the Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology located in our facilities in Çerkezköy Organized Industrial Zone. Our company's R&D budget is approximately 4% of our turnover.

What are the investments you plan to make in R&D in the coming years? How do you evaluate the advantages of the initiatives and investments you have made in the R&D field?

R&D is a long-term effort. It takes time for successful R&D work to transform into industrial production. The processes of converting our successful R&D work from recent years into commercial products continue. In the digital age in which we are experiencing the Industry 5.0 revolution, we believe that the Turkish pharmaceutical industry will grow through R&D.

Given the undeniable power of technology, could you tell us about the technologies you are currently using and plan to use in the coming years?

Our company's current most important goal is the domestic production of biotechnology/biological medicines, accepted as the medicines of the future, and vaccines, the most important instrument of preventive medicine. Recombinant DNA technology is used in biotechnology production. This also represents the structural transformation of the Turkish pharmaceutical industry. High-value-added innovative products not only eliminate import dependency in medicines but will also convert the sectoral impact of foreign trade on economic growth from negative to positive through exports and contribute to making our country a center for R&D and technological pharmaceutical production.

What are your views on sustainable economy and development? How do you define Koçak Farma's role in this regard?

Turkey, with its developing economy, stability, and infrastructure located at the center of European, African, and Asian geography, is positioned as a secure logistics and commercial hub and has the conditions to become a pharmaceutical R&D and production center in its region. However, despite the trained workforce and competence to produce technology that the Turkish pharmaceutical sector possesses, it is dependent on imports for high-value-added, advanced-technology oncology and biotechnology products. It is inconceivable that Turkey should remain indifferent to biotechnology pharmaceuticals, which create the future of the pharmaceutical sector and have high added value and export potential. It is economically and strategically necessary that the Turkish pharmaceutical sector be transformed into a structure that generates a trade surplus, beyond meeting the country's needs. In recent years, with R&D and investment incentives provided, our country has turned toward the production of high-value-added technological medicines and R&D in pharmaceuticals. Domestic and national pharmaceutical production is indispensable for sustainable growth and development. "In the digital age in which we are experiencing the Industry 5.0 revolution, we believe that the Turkish pharmaceutical industry will grow through R&D."

Could you tell us about your Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety Policy?

Our company's most valuable asset is its human resources. Within the framework of legal regulations and legislation, our company gives priority to the occupational health and safety of its employees by identifying all risks that could arise in the work environment and taking necessary measures to reduce occupational accident and occupational disease risk to zero through applicable practices. Koçak Farma's environmental policy is based on the principles of efficient use of natural resources, prevention of pollution, and prior recycling of waste at source; if not possible, its disposal by the most appropriate methods. For the implementation of this policy, as much as raising awareness among employees, suppliers, and subcontractors, the use of environmentally friendly technologies and especially monitoring and implementing national and international legislation aimed at preventing environmental pollution are necessary. The use of recyclable materials in product packaging and training of employees to raise environmental awareness are also important. Koçak Farma holds ISO 14001 Environmental Management System Certification.

What would you like to say about the sector? What are your projections for the coming years?

Medicine is indispensable to healthy life. With a population of 81 million, Turkey is the world's 17th and Europe's 7th largest pharmaceutical market. R&D is especially important in biotechnology/biological medicines, which are accepted as the medicines of the future. In the coming years, R&D and technological investments will determine success in the pharmaceutical industry. Many diseases that cannot be treated today will become treatable with personalized biotechnology/biological medicines.