Delta R&D Ltd inaugurated

Economic Services Mini-ster Professor Josef Bonnici recently inaugurated Delta R&D Ltd. Health Minister Louis Deguara and Icelandic Foreign Minister Halldor Asgrimsson also attended.

Delta R&D is a subsidiary of Pharmamed, which is owned by the Icelandic pharmaceutical company Pharmaco Ltd.

The setting up of the research and development facility is in line with Pharmaco's aim of increasing the company's development capacity.

Pharmaco currently develops five products a year but this is expected to increase to 14 products per year by 2005. Delta R&D will play an important role in future product development within Pharmaco.

The number of Delta R&D employees is already close to 30. The setting up of Delta R&D entailed an investment of Lm1.4 million.

Pharmaco is also investing heavily in upgrading the production facilities of Pharmamed Ltd, a high volume generic pharmaceutical manufacturing facility located in Bulebel, Zejtun. Delta, a subsidiary of Pharmaco, acquired Pharmamed last year.

Pharmaco will now have research and development capacity in Iceland, Malta and Bulgaria. The company focuses on completing the development of generic equivalents of pharmaceutical products at least three years prior to patent expiry.

The Icelandic pharmaceutical industry has profited from the country's patent status. It has been possible to obtain process patents for pharmaceutical products in Iceland since the 1920s, but only a few have been granted, as most multinational pharmaceutical companies did not apply for patents there.

The Icelandic pharmaceutical industry has therefore had considerable freedom to work with substances still covered by patent in the rest of Europe.

Malta's current patent status is also opportunistic and the establishment of the new development firm, Delta R&D Ltd, will increase Pharmaco's development capacity considerably, enabling an even wider range of Pharmaco product launches to be planned.