Saxony-Anhalt-based company PKH Halle delivers ointment bases to university hospitals and pharmacists
Entry into the market of medical cosmetics
Next week, from October 13, 2015, we present the Life Science location Saxony-Anhalt at CPhI worldwide 2015 in Madrid. The CPhI is the world's largest and most important trade shows for the pharmaceutical industry. At a joint stand, the IMG Saxony-Anhalt informs about the unique innovation potential of the federal state and the the exclusive possibilities for the pharmaceutical industry offered by Saxony-Anhalt as a strong investment location in the heart of Germany. We look forward to welcoming you at Hall 1 booth H 19 at CPhI 2015 and discover Saxony-Anhalt’s future forward potentials.
Today, we present innovations from Saxony-Anhalt in the pharmaceutical and medtech industry.
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We’ll mix that for you: Some ointments and drops that doctors prescribe are still manufactured in the pharmacy. The bases for these mixtures are produced by a company from Saxony-Anhalt. After the German reunification in 1990, PKH Halle did not just impress the pharmacies of Eastern Germany: Virtually all the pharmacies of the state’s university hospitals and some hospital pharmacies in Switzerland regularly order compositions from the “Apomix” brand.
“As soon as you’re in the red, we’ll shut you down.” A clear announcement – but it didn’t trigger fear in Hiltrud Neidhardt. It was 1991, when the Halle citizen decided to establish the crosssectoral departments of the former “Pharmazeutisches Zentrum” (pharmaceutical centre) as a GmbH (limited liability company) with the trust as the chief partner. And she stuck with that: No fear of new paths. Today, the 71-year old manages a company, valued by pharmacists throughout Germany – and even frequently “produces in line with the good old GDR standard formulae, which we should not be ashamed about.”
But Hiltrud Neidhardt is in no way living in the past, quite the contrary: She occupies a very profitable niche with her company, PKH Halle. And also because she has repeatedly invested money and tried out new things. “From the very beginning, we have had fixed customers, many of which we have been supplying for 25 years. This has always bolstered us,” says Neidhardt.
A glance back in time explains a lot: With the Unification Treaty, all pharmaceutical centres, the service providers of pharmacies, were broken up. They manufactured base formulae and controlled the basic materials for mixing ointments, oils and drops before they delivered these to the pharmacies. Suddenly, the pharmacists were on their own. Hiltrud Neidhardt, then the head of the crosssectoral departments in the Halle-Neustadt centre, took on all the employees, the mixing machinery and testing devices and began to supply the pharmacies again.
“We quickly reached our limits when it came to order processes and deliveries,” Neidhardt remembers. Increasingly, she handed over the logistics to pharmaceutical wholesalers, who in turn recommended the products to their existing customers. “Our basic formulae were sought-after: Lots of doctors still prescribed them because they were familiar.” Word quickly spread throughout the whole of Eastern Germany: In Halle, there is one company which produces in line with GDR standard formulae.
In 1992, Hiltrud Neidhardt bought the company from the trust, and also took over a Wolfen-based company and its employees in this move. She did not let anyone go: “We needed every hand.” Shortly before the turn of the millennium, when the new production site had been completed, Neidhardt wrote another chapter in the success story of PKH. “Because we work in cleanrooms, we were able to further increase the quality of all products.” Sterile oils, ointments and drops for use in eyes or operating theatres are now developed in the company’s sterile department. The company has found its niche in completely preservative-free ointments and base recipes. “This makes us unique on the market.”
The new technology had its price: With four million Deutschmarks, a big impact on the budget was made by the new build, which Hiltrud Neidhardt had built in 1998 on the weinberg campus, East Germany’s second largest science and technology park. The Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg also concentrates its scientific sectors here, so that research and application go hand in hand. PKH Halle also benefits from this proximity: More and more pharmaceutical students work in the company, who deal with any emerging questions as part of projects.
Thanks to subsidies from the state of Saxony-Anhalt, the investment into the building was possible. While about half a tonne of ointment bases was manufactured per month at the beginning of the 1990s, this was already two tonnes per month in 1998 – this year, employees are already producing ten tonnes per month. They are filled into about 4000 different packagings, from the 10g box or 10ml bottle to 25kg ointment barrels. Since 2004, the products have had the brand name “Apomix”.
With the use of computer technology and further machinery, it has been possible to... (please click here to read the full article)
Contact:
Investment and Marketing Corporation Saxony-Anhalt
The economic development agency of the German federal state of Saxony-Anhalt
Tanja Rüdinger
Project Manager International Press & PR
Tel.: 0049 391 5689976
Fax: 0049 391 5689950
E-Mail: tanja.ruedinger@img-sachsen-anhalt
Internet: www.invest-in-saxony-anhalt.com
Investment and Marketing Corporation Saxony-Anhalt (IMG)
IMG is the economic development agency of the German federal state Saxony-Anhalt. IMG staff provides all services related to new business sites. In addition, we are marketing Saxony-Anhalt both nationally and internationally and developing tourism concepts.
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