September the 16th, 2021 - Croatian pharmacies are set to be without a certain medication following a German pharmaceutical giant announcing that all of it is set to be withdrawn, leaving some unfortunate Croatian patients without their prescribed therapies.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the German pharmaceutical giant Sandoz has announced that it is withdrawing all batches of the drug Bromergon 2.5 mg tablets with the active substance bromocriptine from the Republic of Croatia, the Agency for Medicines and Medical Devices reported recently.

The withdrawal of this medication, which is used by many, is being carried out to the level of pharmacies, according to Sandoz, the world’s largest generic pharmaceutical company that is part of the well known Swiss giant Novartis.

After the withdrawal, bromocriptine drugs will unfortunately not be available on the Croatian market at all, so the Agency has invited all patients who were obtaining this medicine from Croatian pharmacies to please contact their doctors/general practitioners immediately regarding the continuation of the therapy they need for their illnesses.

Those batches of medicinal products are being withdrawn for regulatory reasons which prescribe that a particular medicinal product may be placed on the market for a maximum of eighteen months after their expiry or the revocation of their marketing authorisation, if the product doesn't expire of its own accord at an earlier date than that.

''No other drugs with the active substance bromocriptine in them are available on the market in the Republic of Croatia at all. Therefore, we're instructing all users of this medicine to contact their doctors regarding the continuation of their therapy,'' they pointed out from the Medicines Agency.

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August the 3rd, 2021 - Croatian pharmacies would like to step in and ramp up the vaccination process, aiding all those who haven't yet managed to get to a mass vaccination point in getting their first and second doses, but there is of course, in typical Croatian fashion, an issue.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, numerous Croatian residents have readily taken the opportunity to get their digital COVID-certificates issued in Croatian pharmacies, but imagine how much better things might be if you could go there for vaccination, too?

To obtain a digital COVID certificate, you just need to show either your health insurance card or your identity card, on the basis of which the pharmacist enters you into the database of the Ministry of Health by entering your OIB and issuing you with your certificate. People can get it printed out in paper form if they so wish, or the pharmacist can send it to their e-mail address.

According to Ana Soldo, President of the Croatian Chamber of Pharmacists, despite the initial crowding, the issuance of COVID certificates went mostly smoothly, and people rarely waited for more than a few minutes to receive them. There were technical problems in some Croatian pharmacies, which is expected, and they were effectively eliminated.

It took a lot of time for pharmacists to be able to issue these certificates, but the Chamber expects that such a situation will not last long, reports Novi list.

''It has now become available to people, so people did start going to Croatian pharmacies to get them issued. I believe that then the interest will slowly subside,'' Soldo said.

Regarding the start of vaccination in Croatian pharmacies, which is expected in a few weeks, the pharmacy chamber says that there will be no more mass vaccination rollouts, but the vaccines will be introduced only where there's a need for them.

Coronavirus vaccination will not be performed by the pharmacists themselves, but by doctors who will visit various Croatian pharmacies in mobile teams.

''There aren't many doctors with the time to come out and do this, so this will take place only in those Croatian pharmacies in areas where there are no vaccination points, so that it will make it easier for people to come and get vaccinated. We're going to try to solve this problem by the end of the year by vaccinating people in Croatian pharmacies on our own, without a doctor coming to do it. All countries that have such a model also have much better vaccination coverage,'' added Soldo.

As an example, she pointed out the fantastic results of the United Kingdom, where people are regularly vaccinated by pharmacists, and the vaccination level against influenza in elderly people and those with chronic illnesses is higher than 70 percent, while in Croatia, it is rather shamefully under 20 percent.

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May the 5th, 2021 - The Japan-based company Nipro has taken over Piramida, a Croatian pharmaceutical packaging producer from Sesvete near the City of Zagreb.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Suzana Varosanec writes, the Sesvete-based Piramida company, which is a Croatian pharmaceutical packaging producer, has enjoyed some excellent business results - growth of 15 to 20 percent per year.

These brilliant results have naturally attracted attention in the form of an April purchase/transaction which has now been completely carried out and turned into an ownership transformation. As a result of that, this leading Croatian pharmaceutical packaging manufacturer entered the composition of the Nipro Corporation, a global group with 70 years of tradition, based in Osaka, Japan.

The acquisition of Piramida, crucial for strengthening its position here on the European market in which Piramida has a prominent position as one of the top five manufacturers, was carried out by their European subsidiary - Nipro Pharma Packaging International NV. The current owner of Piramida - the regional private equity fund Blue Sea Capital, is thus successfully leaving the company's ownership.

A new development phase of the Piramida with global ambitions is expected under the leadership of a strong global corporation, while the fund itself is opening up a new opportunity for equity entry with its own capital into other stable and growing companies in Croatia's immediate region. The sale of Piramida to a top player such as the Nipro Corporation and whose shares are listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange is also a strong confirmation and good reference for the fund’s operations.

The Japanese group generates about 4 billion US dollars in annual revenue, has more than 33,000 employees, and big business plans for the period up to 2030 with the goal of achieving total sales of 1 trillion JPY (equal to around 7.6 billion euros). Their recent investments in the United States and much closer to home in France are in the amount of 60 million dollars in the expansion of production capacities that will be in operation during the year 2024.

According to Stephan Arnold, the director of Nipro PharmaPackaging, the acquisition of Piramida strengthens the position of the world's leading supplier of primary glass packaging for the pharmaceutical industry. Such packaging, he argues, plays a crucial role in today’s challenging world, especially as a result of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and increased vaccine production. By purchasing this Croatian pharmaceutical packaging company and its annual capacity of more than 0.5 billion glass containers, Nipro is now able to meet specific Central European market needs.

Blue Sea Capital introduced corporate governance and professional management to Piramida, helping this Croatian pharmaceutical packaging company to develop its customer portfolio. They invested in eight new production lines to modernise the company and develop the ampoule business, resulting in an increase in the number of employees by 35 percent, doubling production capacities and revenue, and ranking among the five largest manufacturers of glass ampoules for the pharmaceutical industry in all of Europe. The factory in Sesvete otherwise produces more than half a billion bottles per year.

Commenting on the successful sale of the company, Sasa Galic, a partner and director of Blue Sea Capital, pointed out that this confirms the success of their investment strategy of transforming regional, family, small and medium companies into small corporations with professional management and a strong influence on the local community.

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