Numbers are amazing. Within just 35 years of experience, Cristália inaugurated three factories and has developed around 180 products in 395 presentations. Behind such results, there are renowned executives like Philippe Boutaud, general director of Cristália.

Always smily and in good mood, as if he was celebrating a great conquer, Boutaud received Top Team reporter and photographer for a good talk at Cristália head office, in São Paulo.

For almost an hour the executive analyzed the company´s achievements and introduced Cristália goals for 2007, besides a positive analysis about generics. ‘ Nowadays, this kind of product does not represent over 5% of our income. However, I am hopeful about it. Over the next 5 years, generics will go through an expanding moment. Read below the main parts of the interview:

Top Team: Among Cristália mission statements is the motivation for the national research. What has the company done within these 35 years of existence?

Philippe Boutaud: Research is in Cristália DNA, which came up out of some friends partnership. They bought a mental health center in Itapira. There, they used some medicaments in patients. Later, they decided to manufacture these medicaments. The clinic was small, the machine used to produce more than was necessary at the moment, so, they decided to sell the exceeding medicine to the laboratories nearby. That way, Cristália was set up, and, as time went by, it kept on growing. After that, they set up Farmoquimica. It produces almost the total amount of epiais that are used by our medicaments. We count on a team of a hundred researchers and we have developed differentiated medicine to be patented.

Top Team: Can you mention an example?

Philippe Boutaud: Certainly. A good example is Eleva, medicine for erectile dysfunction that we have recently launched. It is the result of over eight years of research done within our laboratory and its molecule has been patented in the USA, Europe and Brazil. Eleva is the first medicine manufactured in Brazil and with Brazilian patent. We may see that the difference between Cristália and other Brazilian laboratories lies in the fact that we tend to be more innovative due to the Cristália existence in the pharmochemical segment and due to the development of molecules and epiais. Basically, that´s what makes Cristália a successful company on the Brazilian market.

Top Team: Does the government motivate that kind of research? Is there an effective program?

Philippe Boutaud: The government established, recently, their priorities. Among them lies the pharmaceutical segment. So, we started to realize that there is some kind of motivation in the government for the development of internal research in Brazil comes up. I can mention two examples: the temporary measure that allows federal tax incentives and the support of organizations like Finep (Studies and Projects Financing Agency). Within this context, Cristália brings an interesting feature. It works together with associations and universities for the development of new products and new molecules. We believe that there is no lack of creativity in Brazil, but the support to develop new molecules.

Top Team: Will part of these products be exported?

Philippe Boutaud: Cristália exports to more than 30 countries, mainly in Latin America. We have plans to take our products to Europe and to the USA, by setting up the so called Brazilian multinational company.

Top Team: Other Cristália mission is to be daring besides being ethical. In your opinion, ethics and patent breaking are related ?

Philippe Boutaud: Absolutely, they are completely different. The patent breaking is a formal procedure. The basis of the pharmaceutical industry is health and life preservation. Therefore, it is closely related to ethics. From the market development point of view, we are supposed to see the patent and ethics according to the law. There are laws that must be respected by everyone who are part of the pharmaceutical industry. Cristália has always worked correctly. We do not have problems in relation to patent breaking. Such issue is much more linked to the government and to the law. Now I know that it is much harder for some laboratories to see other smaller companies, theoretically not successful, start to develop within the parameters of the law and ethics.

Top Team: In 2001, Cristália announced their insertion in the production of generics. What has already been done by the company and what does it intend to introduce to the market in the upcoming years?

Philippe Boutaud: The government motivation for the generics is crucial once they tend to offer high quality medicaments at a reasonable price for the population. The generics are, at least, 35% cheaper than their similar products. However, this kind of product is not the focus of Cristália development. Our core business are the brand medicaments and with differentiated molecules. As a whole, the generic is a strategic product and does not represent over 5% of our income. I see a good perspective for this kind of product. Over the next five years we will have an expanding phase for the generics.