Sustainable Development in the Pharmaceutical Sector a Case

Sustainable Development in the Pharmaceutical Sector: a Case Study of a Kosovar Pharmaceutical Company “Trepharm”

About Trepharm • Operates according to the European Union Current Good Manufacturing Products CGMP guiding principle. • It is the only local pharmaceutical manufacturer in Kosova. • Enjoyed support from well-known , global pharma companies through providing knowledge and expertise. • Focused in offering high-quality and safe products with reasonable prices to meet their patient’s needs. • Through accountable behavior, sustainability thinking and concentration on working superiority , Trepharm aims to deliver substantial value to their stakeholders.

Trepharm Values as An Approach to Sustainability • Trepharm’s approach to sustainability through the following values: • Customer oriented: producing life-enhancing and life-saving products. • Reputation: by promoting trust through operational excellence to gain customer’s and partner’s trust. • Efficacy: through continuous improvement of company’s capacities, R & D, minimizing losses, and using resources in a more efficient way. • Personnel: through highly-skilled and knowledgeable staff by promoting their health and well-being. • Innovation: by following standards that exceed the quality prospects, by using environmental friendly materials during the entire production process and responsible marketing.

Trepharm CSR Activities • A member of CSR Kosova Network • Organizes regular campaigns, conferences and open discussion sessions for the citizens and medical personnel to increase awareness for proper use of antibiotics. • The most successful campaign: “ #Icarefor. YOU”, #lookfor. Trepharm” where for each sold product , 3 cents will be donated to the Kosova’s Pensioner Association. Trepharm automatically donated 30, 000 Euros and will increase this amount in the future. Collected funds will be used to repair pensioner’s recreation centers (Krasniqi, 2015). • Agreements with community doctors to donate free medicines for those that can not afford to purchase their drugs.

Water Treatment at Trepharm • Initially the water is treated by removing its minerals and hardness to produce the soft water. Possible water bacteria is removed through membranes and various filtering procedures where purified water is obtained. This water ( sanitary water) is used to clean the rooms and production machines at the end of the manufacturing process. It does not participate in the pharmaceutical production process. Highly purified water is used for such purposes. • Sewage (black water)is treated at the factory’s sewage plant where it is treated through 3 tanks with filters to separate from each other until the water reaches the level of precipitation. This water is used for garden irrigation so when that water comes out of the processes, it is not harmful to the environment but rather used for green areas as set by the EU standards ( Mehmeti, 2015).

Air Treatement at Trepharm • The air at the Trepharm factory is of the highest level in terms of filtration or hygienic classification with HEPA filters. Air is changed about 20 to 50 times within an hour. Each air condition also contains filters that prevent emerging of any amount of dust externally in the environment. This is done to protect the environment. • 40 pieces of bee hives held in the factory’s garden are proof that air coming in the external environment is not harmful for the environment. • Air and water quality at Trepharm are controlled at the Trelab laboratory ( ISO 17025 ), which cares for the quality of air and water to support production processes ( Mehmeti, 2015).

Energy Efficiency at Trepharm • Trepharm has solar panels for heating the sanitary water V = 3, 000 Liters. • All machines used at Trepharm are brought in from the European Union countries with high energy efficiency( Mehmeti, 2015).

Take Back Program at Trepharm • During the annual production planning , Trepharm personnel are very careful to ensure that production is carried out in coherence with the market requirements and product longevity by reducing the maximum amount of products that can expire and as such are returned back to the factory. • Once products are returned to the factory, responsible personnel will ensure that these products are destroyed in the premises of licensed institutions to do so ( Krasniqi, 2015).

References • Alban Mehmeti, personal communication, December 20, 2015). • Ermira Krasniqi, personal communication, December 17, 2015).