Minister Manne Lucha at ChemCon GmbH

On 4 November Mr Manne Lucha MdL, Minister for Social Affairs, Health and Integration of the State of Baden-Württemberg, visited ChemCon GmbH in Freiburg-im-Breisgau. 

The topic of the visit was "Supply reliability of pharmaceuticals in Germany in the context of supply shortages". During the discussion, Dr. Raphael Vogler, CEO and President of ChemCon GmbH and member of the board of VCI Baden-Württemberg, presented his 3 simple steps to stabilise the German economy at the same time as ensuring the supply of medicines.

In summary: 

1. Identify critical medicines:

"All supply-critical medicines should be identified and listed. My suggestion is to include all "life-saving" medicines including orphan disease treatments in this list!" - Dr Vogler said.

2. Identify the supply chain:

The supply chain of these drugs must be identified, both in terms of the active ingredients and the dosage form, because we (Germany and the EU) need both in order to be independent," emphasised Dr Raphael Vogler. 

3. Establish a second source in the economic area of Baden-Württemberg, Germany, the EU, etc.

For all these drugs for which there is currently only production outside Baden-Württemberg, outside Germany, outside Europe, outside a "safe economic area", possibly including the USA and Japan, etc., a second source must be found that produces within the desired economic area. The government looks at all the requirements, identifies all the existing capacities and offers the products for production to the appropriate existing companies or new companies have to be set up. Instead of a subsidy, the second source is permanently allocated a share of future production, even if it is slightly more expensive. The supply reliability is paid for by the price difference, but this is "returned" by the overall strengthening of the pharmaceutical industry, including the creation of jobs and an increase in purchasing power," says Dr Raphael Vogler.

Ms Carola Maute-Stephan, Managing Director of VCI Baden-Württemberg, was also present during the visit. "Many chemical and pharmaceutical companies in South Baden can look back on more than a hundred years of tradition, especially on the Upper Rhine and in the Freiburg region. They are constantly investing. But they are not the only ones: We also see young companies that are successful. 

An excellent example is ChemCon, which is strong in development and production. Thanks to their special know-how, they can hold their own on the world market. As a member of the VCI board, Dr Vogler is also helping to raise the public profile of our industry, to fight for better framework conditions and to ensure that our innovative industry remains what it has always been: a driver of progress for the benefit of patients," said Ms Maute-Stephan.

During the visit, Minister Lucha discussed the reliability of pharmaceutical supply in Germany and the importance of pharmaceutical and active ingredient production sites in Baden-Württemberg. The Minister acknowledged ChemCon's contribution to the reliability of supply in Baden-Württemberg and Germany and thanked the company for its cooperation. The meeting was followed by a group tour of ChemCon GmbH.

The next step will be a meeting with representatives of the API/pharmaceutical manufacturers at the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Social Affairs, Health and Integration.

ChemCon specialises in active pharmaceutical ingredients that are produced chemically, whether through organic, inorganic or polymer chemistry. ChemCon specialises in producing comparatively small annual product quantities with maximum quality, for example between 1 kg and 250 kg annual requirement per active ingredient. ChemCon would ‘apply’ as a future manufacturer for such active ingredients, which have so far only been produced outside our economic area. The establishment of active ingredient production and final drug production as well as authorisation takes around 3-5 years for known active ingredients. This is the minimum time horizon to be expected. ChemCon would expect to receive at least a certain percentage of the future annual demand.