With a $60 million investment, Gilead begins production of life-saving medications in Turkey

The Turkish Presidency's Investment Office has supported Gilead Sciences' first domestic products entering the Turkish market, as reported on Tuesday in a news release from Gilead Sciences. Pharmaceutical companies are increasingly located in Turkey, where they produce some of the world's most innovative and life-saving medicines. Consequently, the business began manufacturing hepatitis and HIV drugs in Turkey.

Gilead, which started producing domestically with its partner Pharmactive, has a goal of contributing roughly 70% of the volume of Turkish-made products thanks to its "In Turkey for Turkey" initiative.

In Turkey, with this $60 million investment, the company will develop groundbreaking drugs for hepatitis and HIV, diseases that the World Health Organization (WHO) refers to as diseases where access to drugs is crucial. One of the top ten pharmaceutical products in terms of sales, HIV drugs developed in Turkey, also made their debut in the second quarter of 2022.

A press conference was held at Pera Palace in Istanbul recently to discuss Pharmactive's investment with Burak Dağlıoğlu, the head of the Investment Office, Girgin, the general manager, and Haluk Sancak, chair of the Board of Directors.

On behalf of the company, Gurgin, general manager of Gilead Sciences Turkey, stated, "We have signed our first investment agreement with Pharmactive in 2019. With the support of Pharmactive and our public stakeholders, we successfully launched manufacturing."

According to Gurgin, the challenges that the supply chain faced during the pandemic have once again shown us how essential it is that we produce our own medicines as a country. The long-term viability of pharmaceutical supply is also dependent on this collaboration. It is a pleasure for us to bring this technology and know-how to Turkey and to manufacture our products there."

With this investment, Turkey has positioned itself as a potential export center in the pharmaceutical field, of importance to global supply chains, and a producer of future treatments, Girgin said, adding that Turkey is one of Gilead's key production bases, in addition to Germany, Canada, and Ireland.

“At Gilead, we strive to eradicate these life-threatening diseases by finding the most effective solutions.”

 As a result, Gilead has been at the forefront of efforts to offer up manageable treatments for diseases such as HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis B and C, hematological and oncological diseases, and systemic pathogens. A science-based company like Gilead, which recently celebrated its 15th anniversary in Turkey and 35th worldwide, focuses on HIV/AIDS and other diseases of critical importance.

Sancak of Pharmactive claimed that when the Saya Group established Pharmactive in 2011, the focus was on high manufacturing capacity and high-level competency.

"We are one of the country's top five most productive plants. We currently produce 50% of our output for global corporations. Pharmactive holds around 200 licenses outside of the country and 170 within the country. "We have 900 people working with us," Sancak stated.

"Pharmactive is currently one of Gilead's four global production bases for these medications." He went on to say, "We are proud of this." Meanwhile, Dağlıoğlu stressed that among overseas investments, the pharmaceutical sector is one of Turkey's top priorities.