Prime Minister Edi Rama visited a newly-built pharmaceutical production plant operated by Noval, a pharmaceutical company in Albania, an investment of over 20 million euros, updated to match the highest drug production and quality standards and gain access to the European market.
“The investment was launched six years ago and now it is about to complete. We expect to complete the ampoule production line by October and then the tablets production line to complete shortly after. We also expect to receive the production certificate in the first half of 2020. We have received demands from Western countries, including Germany and Belgium. We have employed an initial group of 40 employees and expect their number to grow to 150,” the entrepreneur said.
According to the Minister of Health Ogerta Manastirliu, such investments are giving a fresh impetus to Albania’s pharmaceutical market, providing in the meantime the opportunities to offer the lowest prices available on wholesale pharmaceuticals.
“There are six pharmaceutical companies currently operating in Albania, which have been awarded the due license to start drug production activity. The country’s pharmaceutical market is valued at around 199 million euros a year, while the annual turnover of the locally-produced medicines is estimated over 22 million euros. Such companies are an added value not only in terms of the alternatives they offer in the domestic market, but also in terms of the foreign markets, because the production cost is lowered,” Health Minister Manastirliu, adding that over 70% of drugs traded in Albania bear European production certificates.
The company is focused on establishing clearly defined goals, objectives, and high quality of productivity to meet high standard of quality and efficiency for products. To this end, the pharmaceutical company has also built a modern laboratory featuring state-of-the-art equipment, offering also high standard services and food product tests.
“This is one of the plants that has incorporated also a quality safety laboratory that has been already certified and ensures tests on the drug composition and a range of other tests on environmental and food safety,” Health Minister Ogerta Manastirliu said.
“We are largely focused on the quality of both drug, food environmental safety. We are mainly focused on detecting addictive substances in food, pesticides, heavy metals, which are at critical points in terms of these parameters. We have installed state-of-the-art equipment of 2018 and 2019 production year,” the company’s manager said.
Prime Minister Edi Rama said that the government is exploring ways to establish cooperation between this company and the National Food Agency so that every locally-grown produce is certified according to the highest safety standards by this modern laboratory.
“It would be really interesting and in mutual interest to look into ways of a potential cooperation project with your laboratory that meets highest European standards for food safety. A cooperation project between the National Food Agency and your laboratory would ensure spectacular results, as well as greater transparency vis-à-vis all manufacturers and merchants, so that we can also put an end to speculations and debates. Moreover, it is crucially important also in the framework of our planed actions to ease trade exchanges through the border points with North Macedonia, Kosovo and Montenegro to ensure mutual recognition of the test results. So if a product is certified by your laboratory then there is no need for further checks and tests by the neighboring countries. This would take us to a very positive position also in relation to the European Union that applies strict food safety rules,” PM Rama said.
The government head noted that the planed amendments to the Criminal Code to punish all those who violate food quality and safety standards will ensure a safer market for the Albanian consumers.
“We will adopt changes to the Criminal Code during this session and the proposed changes include drastic measures to ensure food safety. Anyone who dares to abuse will be harshly punished and, on the other hand, we should provide incontestable proof in scientific point of view,” the Premier stated.
