IBSA in the World
Special IBSA around the world: Asia
Asia and the Middle East are markets with a lot of potential and, on account of this, they’re highly competitive in the pharmaceutical sector. IBSA is evolving in this region by gradually expanding and introducing additional therapeutic areas through fruitful partnerships with several distributors.
In the Middle East, the company operates in many countries, especially in the areas of fertility, pain therapy and dermoaesthetics, which are currently most developed. For dermoaesthetics, the Middle East is a particularly strategic area, thanks to long-term partnerships in all major countries in the region. IBSA is among the leading distributors of gonadotropins (fertility) in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar.
The company’s presence in Jordan is well established, with products for endocrinology therapy being launched for testing in July and August, having already overcome the complexities of registration. IBSA has an excellent relationship with a distributor in Jordan, supplying products for reproductive medicine, as well as products related to pain and inflammation, and in the dermo aesthetics and dermatological fields.
The same distributor works for the company in Lebanon, where products are also supplied in the osteoarticular field.
IBSA’s presence in the Middle East doesn’t stop there. A fertility contract has recently been signed in Israel, where the company already markets products for dermoaesthetics, as well as the pain and inflammation therapeutic area, while a registration for the urological and intramuscular area is underway in Saudi Arabia.
In Asia, the company is expanding more and more in different fields, particularly in reproductive medicine and dermoaesthetics.
The relationship with Hong Kong, where IBSA has a representative office and is very strong in dermoaesthetics through its partnership with Alma Lasers, is very solid, as is its relationship with China. Here, in addition to distributing products for reproductive medicine, there are two company sites dedicated to the production of raw materials for the manufacture of injectables and oral formulations, in both the fertility and osteoarticular sectors. China is therefore an increasingly important strategic location for investment in the above-mentioned sectors, and is also an excellent area for further product development.
“It’s now clear” says Alessandro Ruggiero, General Manager of IBSA’s subsidiary in China, “that the world's economic centre of gravity has shifted from mature economies to emerging economies: China is a unique case of development in the world, exemplary for its growth rate. China is the country that perhaps more than others has been able to react to the international economic crisis of recent years and also to the recent global pandemic crisis due to the spread of the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. The reasons probably lie in the speed with which the Chinese have changed their development model, which is gradually shifting from exporting to stimulating domestic demand.”
Regarding IBSA’s success in this country, Ruggiero explains that “IBSA had the intuition to invest in China more than 20 years ago, securing a strong and deep-rooted presence in key production sectors for the Group’s main therapeutic areas of interest. With the same pioneering spirit, IBSA sensed the socio-economic change in the country and set up – more than 10 years ago now – a division mainly dedicated to the fertility marketing sector, through advertising the IBSA brand, collecting market information, studying current regulations, clinical promotion and organising local and international academic activities. Marketing is also involved in the registration of many other IBSA products in the Chinese market.”
IBSA also continues to expand into other countries in Asia through strong relationships with several distributors. In Korea, for example, product registration is quite complex, but agreements with two distributors have made it possible to establish a presence in the areas of urology and reproductive medicine.
Several urology products were also launched in Vietnam through a multinational distributor, and through another important partnership the company distributes fertility products. The expansion into the Asian continent is far from over: in 2020, a major distribution contract was signed with Maylen Farma SA for fertility, dermatology and urogynaecology in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia.
Finally, IBSA also has strong partnerships in the Far East: Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines and Indonesia, where the company is represented by Neoasia, are important markets for the distribution of dermoaesthetic products. Other important countries for this therapeutic area are Cambodia via distributor Allure Aesthetic Solutions, and Japan via distributor J. Hewitt. IBSA has also recently registered a contract for fertility in Indonesia, where it already operates through two distributors for the intra-articular and dermatology area, and in Malaysia it has registered gonadotropins (fertility area).
The company has every intention of continuing its growth by introducing new products and additional therapeutic areas in Asia, both in countries where it already has active partnerships and in those where it doesn’t currently operate.