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Interview
Furp suffers from resources limitation.
The pediatrician majored from Faculdade de Medicina da USP (University of São Paulo Medical School), with specialization in Pharmaceutical Medicine from UNIFESP and Master’s Degree in Business Administration from FEA/USP, Flávio Vormittag has already worked at Boehringer, Pfizer, United States Pharmacopeia, Schering-Plough, Wyeth and Eurofarma, besides being the chairman of the Brazilian Research-Based Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (Interfarma). At the moment he is the Popular Medicine Foundation superintendent (Furp).
Founded in 1974, Furp has an annual demand of one billion pharmacotechnical units and counts on over a thousand employees.
During an exclusive interview to Top Team, Vormittag explains why Furp occupies a strategic position in the healthcare system, comments about the criteria used to manufacture medicine and highlights: “We need to keep the machine running. We can´t let projects get stuck.”
Check the main parts of the interview:
Is there enough room for projects between Furp and the Private Pharmaceutical Industry?
Furp does not compete with the private sector once they cannot sell in the private market. The private companies, on the other hand, can sell in the public market, but only though auctioning and other mechanisms. Therefore, it is not a real competition. We have, in fact, a great partnership with private laboratories and we are willing to expand them, either via PDP or direct projects with Furp.
How can Furp occupy a strategic position in the health care system?
Furp has turned 40 years of existence. We have participated in several programs which reinforce Furp goals concerning development, production, distribution and products delivery for the improvement of the population´s quality of life. A good example is Dose Certa program. The initiative approaches around 600 cities all over the State of São Paulo, by delivering 69 items, 36 produced by Furp in Guarulhos and Américo Brasiliense factories and 33 bought by the Secretary of State for Health. Since its implementation, in 1995, the initiative has already distributed over 23 billion pharmaceutical units.
And how about the partnership with the Industry?
We participate actively in a federal program called Parcerias para o Desenvolvimento Produtivo (Partnership for Productive Development). The initiative counts on the participation of the government, which identifies some medicines that might interest the population, mainly the ones sold at high prices; the private laboratories that sell to the government and also transfer technology, and the public laboratories which, from 5 to 10 years, depending on the complexity of the product, keep the technology. We have signed, for instance, a partnership with private laboratories, which will end up transferring the drugs manufacturing technology for Alzheimer disease to the CVA (spiral/COIL) treatment.
It seems that Furp goes beyond medicines manufacturing. Does it make sense?
We want to contribute to the improvement of quality of life for the population. Furp does not only manufacture medicine, but also healthcare products. A good example is the IUD (intrauterine device), whose manufacturing, inside PDP, has started in 2015. During the second half of this year, we might start manufacturing hearing aids, once we already have Anvisa registration.
Which criteria are taken into account when it comes to choosing the medicine to be manufactured?
The public agencies check the needs. I will give you an example. Some products lose commercial interest like, for instance, TB drugs. Furp is the only laboratory that manufactures this kind of medicament.
To wrap up, what are FURP challenges for 2015?
Several articles have shown the difficulties Brazil has faced concerning financial resources, which leads to cost cutting procedures. Furp has naturally suffered from this resource limitation. The year 2016 might not be different. However, we need to keep the machine running, keep business viable. We will not let projects get stuck. 2017 will probably be more interesting for Furp.
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