Production Begins of "Favipiravir," an Active Ingredient Drug Against Coronavirus

Abdi İbrahim and Novelfarma, through their collaboration, achieved the first production in Turkey of "Favipiravir," an active pharmaceutical ingredient developed by Novelfarma and included in the COVID-19 treatment protocol. Favipiravir, included in the treatment protocol in China where the disease emerged in February and whose application was expanded in the latest Health Ministry treatment guideline on 19 June in Turkey, was initially produced in a quantity of 400,000 tablets. With Abdi İbrahim's R&D strength and experience, all preparations including technology transfer were completed in a record time of just one week. The medication was produced for the first time in Turkey at Abdi İbrahim's state-of-the-art high-technology equipped Esenyurt facility. In Turkey, 200,000 tablets were donated to the Health Ministry solely by Novelfarma, and the first export of the medication was made. Abdi İbrahim Board Chairman Nezih Barut stated: "We are passing through a historic period, and with full attention we are fulfilling the requirements of our mission to improve lives." Reminding that Abdi İbrahim is an established brand witnessing Turkey's history with 108 years of pharmaceutical industry experience, Nezih Barut said, "Historic brands carry different responsibilities throughout history. For more than a century we have worked to improve lives. We take pride in being our country's national and leading brand. During the pandemic crisis our country has faced, we awoke each day with the same sense of responsibility. Following our production of chloroquine phosphate-based medication under our own name and donation to our Ministry, we are proud to host the production of Favipiravir, developed by our country's prestigious pharmaceutical company Novelfarma and one of the most effective medications in treating the disease. Domestic production and reaching patients as soon as possible was the most critical issue. For this, technology transfer was essential. With our experience in these operations, technical expertise, management skills and collaboration-oriented working approach, by allocating all resources within one week to carry out the first production of Favipiravir in Turkey, I sincerely commend the Abdi İbrahim and Novelfarma employees who contributed to delivering the medication to our patients," he said. Nezih Barut, who also serves as President of the Pharmaceutical Employers' Industry Association, provided the following information on the process: "With the announcement of the pandemic, as Abdi İbrahim we focused all our attention on our core mission—improvement.

We established agile working groups within the company comprising representatives from medical teams, R&D, licensing, business development and different departments.

One of our main objectives was to serve sector players working on COVID-19 treatment by allowing them to benefit from our company's knowledge accumulated as a sector leader, high technological production capacity and strong infrastructure. We woke each morning with the awareness that we are passing through a historic period. In addition to the medication we donated to the Health Ministry at the beginning of the process, the rapid production support we provided to our visionary and dynamic business partner Novelfarma is a natural result of this awareness and reflex." Noting that the importance of the domestic pharmaceutical industry came to the fore very clearly during the pandemic process, Nezih Barut said, "We have always believed in the power of investment. To allocate more share to R&D, we need to produce more and export more. As Abdi İbrahim, the investment we have made in our production facilities is a strategic decision. We sincerely believe that Turkey can become a production hub for both chemical and biotechnology medications," he said. Novelfarma Board Chairman Yasin Alp stated: "We received the license for our domestic and national product on 10 July. Currently, all global rights belong to Novelfarma. The active ingredient was specially manufactured for us through a special agreement. We developed the product in our own R&D facility in less than a month. We also completed bioequivalence studies in a similarly brief period of about one month. The fact that our entire R&D personnel consist of a young team under 35 years of age is a source of pride for us. Other companies demanded high prices for production despite the pandemic. However, Abdi İbrahim suspended all its production and carried out technology transfer in record time to realize production. This medication is very important as it is entirely domestic and national production. For this reason, we extend our thanks to the entire Abdi İbrahim team, especially Board Chairman Nezih Barut. We received our license and delivered the donations we promised to the Public Health General Directorate drug depot on 11 July, and they were distributed to all provinces by air ambulances," he said. Yasin Alp continued his remarks: "We are the only company making donations and in this way we contributed to a price reduction of 80 percent. For this reason, the cost to our state has been further reduced. As Novelfarma, we develop and license orphan drugs and oncology medications. To date, we have not received any state support or grants for any of our projects. Everything has been covered with our own resources. We currently have approximately 30 license applications pending and approximately 50 R&D studies are also ongoing."