Krka receives two awards from the Slovenian Chamber of Commerce and Industry for innovation

“We are able to respond quickly and appropriately to development challenges, marketing requirements and opportunities by following the global trends in clinical trials and scientific achievements in various fields important to the pharmaceutical industry. This is demonstrated by the new generation of medicines for a modern, safe and effective treatment of numerous diseases, all of which leads to a better quality of life. We are pleased to learn that our innovative approach is recognised by the Slovenian Chamber of Commerce and Industry,” stated Dr. Aleš Rotar, member of the Management Board and Director of Pharmaceutical R&D and Production.

Gold award for a medicine used in the treatment of high blood pressure

In our care for living a healthy life, Krka has developed a new medicine for treating high blood pressure. Its advantage lies in the fact that one tablet contains three active ingredients: amlodipine, valsartan and hydrochlorothiazide. This medicine is available in five different dosage combinations.

With this single-pill combination we have enabled the patients to take just one daily dose of this medicine used for lowering high blood pressure instead of their usual way of taking several medicines containing individual active ingredients. Fewer doses means a more convenient form of therapy, which also helps to improve treatment control. Research shows that most patients abandon their treatment with multiple pills already in the first year since starting therapy.

As explained by Dr. Miha Vrbinc – team manager from Pharmaceutical Development who participated in the awarded development-research project – we used our own, patent-independent active ingredient of valsartan, which allows us to achieve the highest standards of quality. Patent-independent formulation of the triple combination was successfully launched on Krka’s key markets, helping us consolidate the position of a leading producer of generic medicines for treating high blood pressure. This awarded product represents the fourth generation of Krka valsartan medicines, which are marketed in over 50 countries around the world and daily used by more than 3 million patients.

Silver award for improving valsartan’s active ingredient

We received the silver award for a project with which Krka researchers improved the production process of valsartan’s active ingredient. As the head of the research group and head of the Optimisation and Automation Laboratory in the Production and Supply Chain Jure Ciber pointed out this innovation helped us to significantly increase production capacity of valsartan’s active ingredient in three technological stages of synthesis.

This was achieved through the use of innovative and scientific approaches in the laboratory phase of optimisation according to the Design of Experiments principles and the use of CFD computer simulation. The next step involved effectively transferring the technology to the industrial scale. This provided us with sufficient amounts of the product in times of an increased need for the active ingredient that is built into our medicines for treating elevated blood pressure. An important aspect of Krka’s innovation is also its ability to reduce negative impact on the environment due to the optimisation of organic solvent regeneration.