Farmak pharmaceutical company (Kyiv) has invested more than $1.2 million in projects and startups in the MedTech and HealthCare industries.

The company told Interfax-Ukraine agency with reference to Executive Director Volodymyr Kostiuk, Farmak began investment activity in the venture capital market in 2020.

"The decision to invest in startups was made as one of the strategic directions of business development. We are interested in areas at the intersection of advanced express diagnostics, digital medicine, interactive patient engagement, allowing us to diagnose and predict possible health problems. And if they are found, then using biomedical and computational technologies to determine the causes and recommend solutions to eliminate them," Kostiuk said.

He noted the readiness of Farmak to invest in the growth of these startups, to participate in their development to the level of a successful business, and "the development of internal startups can be one of the driving forces behind the development of science in the country."

Kostiuk also said that in 2020, the pharmaceutical company financed the first project from the Ukrainian company ComeBack Mobility, which developed intelligent attachments for crutches. They are designed to control the load during the rehabilitation during the diseases and injuries of the lower extremities.

Having analyzed the venture capital market in Ukraine and abroad, Farmak chose several more startups for investment in 2021.

"Some projects were initially tested in their own production. For example, MedTech-startup DrugCard first began to provide Farmak with services related to the automation of pharmacovigilance processes as a contractor. Since we understand that this solution for the automatic monitoring of medical literature, designed to help pharmaceutical companies reduce costs, optimize routine processes and ensure compliance with regulatory requirements in pharmacovigilance, we decided to invest in this startup," Kostiuk said.

He said that the DrugCard platform has already implemented continuous monitoring of medical literature, reports of adverse reactions, their analysis and exchange with E2B (R2)/(R3)/CIOMS regulators, integration with medical registries and dictionaries, reports for regulatory authorities, as well as compliance module and compliance with current regulatory requirements for validation.

In addition, last year, Farmak invested in Cambrian Biopharma, the U.S. biotech startup, which is developing innovative drugs to combat the biological factor of aging, treat and prevent age-related diseases and increase life expectancy.

Cambrian is currently developing 14 new therapeutic drugs.

As reported, JSC Farmak at the end of 2020 saw a net profit of about UAH 1.138 billion, which is almost 7.8% more than in 2019 (UAH 1.056 billion).

The company's net profit at the end of 2019 amounted to UAH 1.056 billion, which almost coincided with the figure for 2018 – UAH 1.05 billion, and at the end of 2018, net profit increased by 25.16%.

Farmak is the leader in the pharmaceutical market with a 5.9% share in value terms. It manufactures medicines in all 14 therapeutic groups. Among the main directions are anti-cold, endocrinological, gastroenterological, cardiological, neurological portfolios. Every year Farmak introduces about 20 new modern complex-component drugs to the market. Currently, there are about 100 drugs in development.