"We didn´t believe we would get that far"

“I am a sales rep who sells medicine”. That´s how Orlando Famá Júnior, director-president of Torrent in Brazil introduced himself to Top Team´s reporter.  “I am always selling the company´s image and trading products, no matter position I am in”, added the executive who has already worked at Johnson & Johnson, BMS, Medley and Eurofarma.

Famá clearly remembers when he his former boss at Torrent told him on his first day at work: “here is your desk and computer. Set up a company!”. Such episode happened in 2001, when the company was coming to Brazil and needed an office. Together with other three professionals, the executive took on the responsability successfully and Torrent was inaugurated in Brazil in 2002.

The president of Torrent Brazil talked to Top Team about it. Ckeck it below:

Top Team: How was it to set up Torrent branch in Brazil? 

Orlando Famá Júnior: It was really wonderful but unusual. I had never had such experience and I belive few people had. Lots of doubts came up. Torrent came to Brazil in order to offer prescription drugs while the government stimulated the use of generics. Several executives commented that we were on the wrong side of the road, though we believed in the quality of our products and in the whole team.

Top Team: What do you conclude from these five years of Torrent in Brazil?

Orlando Famá Júnior: We didn´t believe we would get that far. The middle class received us better than we had expected. We are still small when compared to competition and we still have a lot to grow.  We have a long way ahead with lots of upcoming news. In 2007, for instance, we have launched two products, an anti-epileptic drug called Oleptal and Ecator H, for hypertension.

Top Team: What is the sales force at Torrent like?

Orlando Famá Júnior: We have two teams composed by 124 sales reps each. They contact physicians who use products for the central nervous system and metabolism, such as general physicians, cardiologists, endocrinologists and psychiatrists. We increased the sales team in the northern region, because there used to be only one working there. From last April on there have been two.

Top Team: Who are your main competitors?

Orlando Famá Júnior: Our main competitors are the strongest ones in the market, such as Eurofarma, Biolab, Baldacci, Cristália and Novartis, for instance.

Top Team: But Torrent has a partnership with Novartis, right?

Orlando Famá Júnior:  Novartis, just like Astrazeneca, has an international partnership with Torrent concerning the Research and Development Departments. There are several products that have been developed within these departments. In one, Torrent has  a partnership with Novartis, and in the other they have a partnership with Astrazeneca. There isn´t a partnership with these companies in Brazil. There is indeed a mutual respect and  healthy competition!

Click here to read the second part of the interview