In March 2023, Zodiac, a laboratory with 32 years of operations in Brazil, announced a change of name to Adium, with Nolver Uruguay following the same steps in June, in line with the parent group. Adium, a company founded in 1975, originally focused on the Southern Cone (Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Bolivia) and then started to expand to 17 Latin American countries, including Brazil and Mexico. One of the most outstanding corporate news of the Adium Group is the agreement to represent Moderna in Latin America for the distribution of SPIKEVAX, Moderna’s SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. We talked to Patricia Beiro, VP of Corporate Operations at Adium Pharma, about the future of the pharma industry in Latin America. You have presence in 17 countries and have become a benchmark in the pharma industry. How was Adium born? What is the core of the business? Adium develops, manufactures, and commercializes pharmaceutical products in Latin America, with presence throughout the region and more than 6,000 employees. The company has two main business units: General Medicine and OLE (Oncology and Rare Diseases). We have a portfolio of own-brand generic drugs and innovative products, both proprietary and licensed. By licensed products I mean products under license agreements with world-leading multinational biotechnology companies that have chosen us as their strategic partners to distribute their products in Latin America. These companies include Moderna, with the COVID vaccine, Astellas, Seagen, Eli Lilly, Amgen, among others. According to data from IQVIA, we are ranked top 6 in the Latin American pharmaceutical market. The group has over 240 molecules in its portfolio and 5 factories in the region, and produces over 100 million units on a yearly basis. In March, Zodiac, the Brazilian branch, changed its name to Adium. What impact do you expect in the region from this consolidation of the brand? The change of name in Brazil was a milestone for Adium. One of our strategic goals is to grow in that market. That is why, of all the companies of the group in the region, Zodiac was the first to adopt the Adium brand as its official name. In the rest of the countries, we also intend to identify the group with the brand in the future. Today, we are recognized by the medical community, but under different names. The idea of being recognized throughout Latin America means to be identified as a single group, which is crucial given the quality of our products, our professionalism, and our focus on patients’ quality of life. The global pharma industry has grown exponentially in the past decades with an increasingly expanding reach, from traditional manufacture and commerce to a major market of licenses and patents. How do you see the future of the industry in Latin America? We believe that the pharma industry will continue to grow in Latin America and worldwide based on population growth, ageing, greater access to medical care, and technological innovation. At Adium, our objective is to be a leading pharmaceutical company where our employees may develop and grow without limitations, as well as to provide physicians and patients with innovative treatments and to contribute to the development of the communities in which we are present. In addition, our priorities include developing our own products and, also, entering agreements with licensors, since Adium is regarded as a choice partner for innovative companies that intend to give patients in Latin America access to their products. How do you focus your businesses in the region from this perspective? In the past years, several multinational companies have withdrawn from the market. This is leaving gaps that we are interested in filling in order to maintain those treatments available in Latin America for all patients. Technological innovation has become a driving force for the economy and quality of life. How is tech innovation incorporated to the pharma industry? Technological changes in the pharma industry have translated into more effective and tailored treatments for patients. Currently, the existence of more sound and repetitive processes assures greater efficiency in the development and production of drugs. Adium is starting a digital transformation process to assess the way to incorporate technology to our future growth. For instance, the use of more modern equipment leads to more environmentally-sound practices, and an effective use of water and energy is possible thanks to digital technologies. We also have policies on the use of renewable energies and measurement of carbon footprint. What does Uruguay have to offer to attract investments and develop exports focused on Life Sciences? As far as Latin America goes, Uruguay is one of the countries with greater political and economic stability, and provides an advantageous regulatory and legal framework. Uruguay is a reasonable country, predictable for foreign investments. In this sense, the legal certainty given by the country is paramount to investors. Uruguay also offers highly qualified human resources, with an educated and highly technical competent population. What operations do you have in Montevideo? The headquarters are here in Uruguay. The business branch operates here under the name Nolver (as from June it will change to Adium), being the youngest branch of the group. In ZONAMERICA we have our center of primary and secondary packaging, and we have also created a logistics hub. To us, these operations are of key importance since, both as a hub and as a packaging center, we have greater flexibility to respond in case of changes in the demand and requirements of the different countries. To what this flexibility to respond is owed? At ZONAMERICA, we are able to customize our products according to the regulations of each country. As you can imagine, the pharma industry is highly regulated. Then, by having a hub here we can be closer to our customers. We have been in ZONAMERICA for over 25 years, being strategic partners all along. We have worked and grown together. Which benefits do you find at the Park for the development of the pharma industry? The capacity to work side by side with ZONAMERICA each time we have to optimize our processes. For example, in 2019, a new regulation was passed that allowed to obtain certificados derivados de origen, and by working with Zonamerica we were the first company in Uruguay to make use of such benefit. Cases like that encourage us to work jointly and figure out how to streamline all operations in Uruguay. It is great to have a strategic partner. We do not feel just as a client of ZONAMERICA, we consider them our partners. We have an open dialogue and are always ready to work together. The search for constant improvement is noteworthy, including the way in which ZONAMERICA sees our needs as clients and helps us to satisfy such needs.
