Grindex flirting with Poland

  • 2004-04-15
  • Baltic News Service
RIGA - Grindex, Latvia's largest pharmaceutical company, is considering moving a production facility to Poland, a company official said this week.

Spokeswoman Jana Semerikova said that Grindex was planning to move its facility that produces the injection form of Mildronats, which is currently produced at Lithuania's Sanitas. She said the company was considering possible ways to cooperate with several of Poland's largest pharmaceuticals makers.
The spokeswoman said a production move would streamline costs, which in turn would free up capital for investments in new technologies and product development.
Semerikova said that Grindex's plans to expand operations through cooperation with other pharmaceuticals makers in the Baltic and European states were directly linked to Latvia's accession to the European Union.
In March Grindex revealed it was inquiring about possibilities to produce its products at the Belarus pharmaceuticals company Borisov Pharmaceutical Plant (BZMP). Grindex's board chairman, Valdis Jakobsons, said at the time that Grindex was seeking various ways of how to produce products at lower costs, saying the Belarus plant was one such possibility.
Grindex has been cooperating with Sanitas for several years. During the first two months of 2004 the company purchased Sanitas' products worth 890,000 lats (1.34 million euros), up three times on the same period last year.
Grindex also owns 90.98 percent of a Tallinn pharmaceutical factory.
The largest shareholders of Grindex are Kirovs Lipmans, his spouse Anna Lipmane, Vitalijs Gavrilovs and Janis Naglis.