Nikolay Semenov, CEO of Nacimbio (National Immunobiological Company, RosTECH group) and Maria Lina Marcucci, Kedrion Biopharma Board member and Chairman of Sestant Internazionale Spa, which is Kedrion’s majority shareholder, signed a joint venture agreement today. The Castelvecchio Pascoli-based company will collaborate in relaunching the Russian plant in Kirov, which produces plasma-derived medicines.
According to the agreement between the two companies, the facility will be operational in 2019, once the plant renovation, the installation of new equipment for production and all activities included in the transfer of experience, expertise and technologies from Kedrion to Nacimbio, have been completed.
"Currently, Russia depends on imports for 90% of its blood-derived product requirements. In 2019, however, once the Kirov plant is completed, it will be capable of processing 600 tons of plasma per year," stated Nacimbio CEO Nikolay Semenov. With Kirov at full capacity, the health care system of the Russian Federation will be able to meet the domestic demand for Albumin, Immunoglobulin and Factor IX in full, while covering up to 15% of Factor VIII demand. “For the first time in our country, we will be able to manage the entire production cycle of plasma derivatives, complying with the highest industry standards. The Kirov production plant is of strategic importance for the Russian health system, which currently depends substantially on foreign suppliers of blood substitutes and infusion solutions for Hemophilia and oncology patients as well as for complex surgeries. We plan to invest about 4 billion Rubles in the Kirov plant", concluded Semenov.
"The agreement we have signed today is a prelude to a partnership of great importance for Kedrion Biopharma and represents a further step in our international growth strategy", stated Kedrion Biopharma Chairman and CEO, Paolo Marcucci. “For a company that, year on year, has increased its presence on the global markets – sales in foreign markets represented, in 2015, two thirds of total revenues – the market of the Russian Federation is an extraordinary opportunity. The recently launched national Russian self-sufficiency in lifesaving therapies program, which sees our future partner Nacimbio as a key player, will encourage the use of plasma-derived products and thus help expand patients’ access to care”.