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AN INSIDE LOOK
at Norgine Peter Stein CEO, Norgine
In June this year, European pharmaceutical company Norgine held a 50-year anniversary for its global manufacturing site in Hengoed, Wales. Following the event, European Pharmaceutical Manufacturer editor Reece Armstrong caught up with Norgine’s CEO Peter Stein to discuss pharma trends, US and EU drug approvals and the company’s approach to improvement.
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tein begins by explaining the roots of the Hengoed site its 50-year history born from small beginnings with a team of around 20 employees. Now, the site is responsible for producing over 30 million packs of medicine every year, a fact recognised at the event as well as the ‘unique position Hengoed has in Wales as a major manufacturer for the world,’ according to Stein.
Norgine itself has a rich history. A family owned business founded in the early 1900s, Norgine was the first company in central Europe to start manufacturing insulin but fell dormant in World War II until it was eventually revived by Walter Stein after the war. Norgine serves markets in the US and Japan but Stein explains that what the company has really done is build a European platform
‘that’s able to develop, register, manufacture and market products on a European scale’. During Stein’s time in the industry, the biggest change he’s seen ‘is the extent to which the industry is much less fragmented by national markets and standards and it’s more focused on regional or global standards’. Indeed, it’s these harmonised standards – introduced by the European Commission in 2008 to help companies market products in the EU and European Economic Area - that Stein believes has enabled Norgine’s success in Europe. Another area Stein is keen to emphasise is just how differentiated new therapies need to be if they are to really add value to patients and healthcare systems. In fact, what quickly becomes evident during our chat is just how advantageous Stein believes the EU healthcare system to be compared to that of the United States’. Originally from the US himself, Stein’s time in Europe has really made him appreciate the European system. “It’s a good thing that the industry is obliged to focus on products