Interview with Two Prominent Figures from Atabay Kimya

We conducted a pleasant interview with Şahin Gürsel, Factory Director of the Gebze Campus API Development and Production Facilities, and Adil Kaya, Technical Operations Director, who opened the doors of Atabay Kimya for us. These two valuable names shared information with our readers about where the company has arrived and its future targets. [caption id="attachment_143471" align="aligncenter"] Şahin Gürsel - Adil Kaya[/caption] Could you introduce yourselves and share your background with our readers? My name is Şahin Gürsel and I am the Factory Director. I have worked at Atabay for 50 years. I started here as an intern. After working in various departments of the company, starting from the laboratory and passing through manufacturing and other research laboratories, I now serve as the director of the factory. Atabay Kimya Sanayi, as a producer of raw materials, played a major role in my choice of profession and continued work in this field. When we established this chemical facility in 1971, pharmaceutical raw materials were not being produced in Turkey. 1971 was also the year when pharmaceutical raw material production began in Turkey, and with my entry into the profession, pharmaceutical raw material manufacturing started in Turkey. In those years, only Ansa existed. Ansa only produced antibiotics. Later, we began producing Paracetamol and Phenacetin. In addition, Aspirin production continued, and genuine pharmaceutical raw material production in Turkey began with Atabay. As time went on, we began adding new raw materials. In 1980, we started producing 6-APA synthetically from Penicillin. This 6-APA was the basic raw material for antibiotics. Later, we moved to obtaining Ampicillin and Amoxicillin through enzymes from Penicillin using biotechnology. In 1980, antibiotic production was very new technology in Turkey. This production requires manufacturing at -80 degrees, and under the conditions of that time, providing this and applying such technology in Turkey was very difficult. Because there was no other company producing raw materials ahead of you. Moreover, communication was not as easy as it is today. Now it is possible to reach everywhere easily. In those times, China and Korea were not in the market; only Europe was. So if you were producing raw materials, Europe was your only example. And in Europe, production was not this diverse. We began making Ampicillin and Amoxicillin under these circumstances. In addition, we produced herbal medicines. Atabay was the first company in Turkey to produce GBTÜ (Traditional Herbal Medicinal Product) raw materials. We produced Glycyrrhizic Acid from licorice root. During this process, new raw materials began to be added. Ibuprofen, Ampicillin Amoxicillin, Sulfamethoxazole started to be produced, and the raw material journey at Atabay began this way.

Could you also share with us where Atabay's success comes from?

It is like this: before Atabay reached its current position, there was a pharmaceutical factory ahead of us. The main production of that factory at the time was Panalgin. Paracetamol and Phenacetin were used in Panalgin production. Therefore, the idea of producing the raw materials of these pharmaceuticals we produced was born. If you have a finished product, you must certainly produce its raw material yourself. We saw an example of this during the Pandemic. Atabay took on a major mission at this point and initiated the raw materials business in Turkey. Although antibiotic production had started with Ansa, we diversified it. For this reason, Atabay became a pioneer in raw material production. Together with companies we collaborated with, this business grew further. We became the licensed manufacturer of Boots company in Turkey. We became the production arm of DSM Andeno, a Dutch company, in Turkey. Later, we began expanding the scope of production and management. With all this, we said that we would undertake this raw material responsibility and made it our mission. At that time, alongside antibiotics, there were Sulfonamide group pharmaceuticals. We also began producing their starting materials. The reason we focus so much on Ampicillin and Amoxicillin is related to going back in their stages. We went from eight steps back to the final stage. We even have such an experience with antibiotics. During the 1980 coup, we had to stay overnight at the factory for the first Ampicillin production. We have such a memory too. Apart from these, Ethambutol production began. In these, we did not start from back stages but from the first stage. We have a report from the state planning organization from 1975. In this Development plan, it clearly stated what incentives should be given for the production of raw materials in Turkey. When we started, China and South Korea did not have a say in the market, but later they surpassed us and gained a say in raw materials. If we had been given more opportunities in 1971, Turkey could have competed with China. We are doing very important work, we are producing Paracetamol. The Paracetamol we produce is very different from the Paracetamol produced by the Chinese. The reason we sell the Paracetamol we produce all over the world is because we apply the same process as America. We apply a process starting from Nitrobenzene here, but in China, the final product has high chlorinated compounds. Therefore, doctors say that giving such a product, especially to children and pregnant women, is very problematic. At the same time, since we obtained FDA approval for this Paracetamol, we can easily sell it to all countries. This is how you become a world brand. Now in a new industrial drive, we will increase this capacity to 6,000 tons. Actually, this figure is also insufficient for the world. There is a need for consumption of at least around 200,000 tons. If the government provides the necessary facilities, we hope to realize this ideal of ours. What we want, of course, is not money but incentives through facilitating measures such as special industrial zones. Such support should exist. Therefore, we will continue to produce new raw materials going forward. During the Pandemic, we rapidly produced Favipiravir, which was needed, and delivered this product to Covid patients. Also, during the Pandemic, China and India could not export sufficiently, so they could not send much product abroad. We produced our own Paracetamol and exported it. Paracetamol is so important that in France, only Paracetamol was given to Covid patients. We used to produce Sodium Perborate as well. What we did was, in addition to being a pharmaceutical factory, to also produce pharmaceutical raw materials. For this reason, we value state support. Incentive is always necessary in every business because making raw materials is very difficult. You need technology, experience, knowledge, and human factor is very important. You have to invest in all of these. In a pharmaceutical factory, you put a machine, give it a mixture, and you can make a medicine, tablet or syrup, but here you have to put all your experience, knowledge and skill. Despite being so important, Turkey is unfortunately far behind in this regard.

As you know, we went through a pandemic process that directly affected the Pharmaceutical Sector. How was this period for your company? What happened in the factory and company, could you tell us?

Because we produced raw materials during the Pandemic, there was a situation that made us stand out. We produced Favipiravir raw material, which was most needed. This was a very important event. Otherwise, you would bring its raw material from abroad, process it here, etc., which would be a long process and both time and costs would increase until it reaches the end user. We took steps to prevent this situation and quickly had it made into tablets and presented it to patients. Therefore, our commercial activities were not negatively affected by this process. We played an important role during the Pandemic for this reason. We presented Parol as a pain reliever and Favipiravir as an antiviral to our people. We had previously put our own antiviral on the market during swine flu. A foreign company's medicine was being used in Turkey at that time. However, due to its price, they later stopped supplying it. In response, we immediately made the raw material for this antiviral. After quickly obtaining Ministerial approval, we launched it on the market and it became a life-saving medicine. Even a mother from her daughter's hospital bed shared a photo of the medicine saying "May God be satisfied with whoever made this medicine." This was the greatest reward for us. I still keep that photo. That is, when you have a positive impact on people's health, the feedback really motivates you. This is a motivation that cannot be achieved in any other way. However, the Pandemic was also there for us. That is, medicine production here could not stop, but on the other hand, our health also had to be protected. For this reason, we tested everyone entering through the door for Covid every day. Rapid tests were not available at that time. We obtained these ourselves. We used boxes of tests during that period. Both in our factory and in our office in Acıbadem, we carried out this practice without interruption. Some companies said they couldn't spend money from their own pocket daily for these tests. They said they would close if there was no state support. However, from the beginning, we did this test every day, later every two days, now every Monday of the week, without expecting anything from anyone. But we always saw this as a duty and sought ways to continue producing medicine for our people without putting anyone at risk. We still do it and we must because we don't have the luxury of saying we're stopping production. Likewise, during the Covid period, the government issued a part-time work allowance. We have a 150-person sales team. But all these people had to stay home because they couldn't go anywhere. Many companies, including pharmaceutical companies, used this. We didn't. Even the biggest ones did. We said that when we look at all sectors, the Pharmaceutical Sector was one of the sectors making money. Because no matter what, medicines are still being used. Restaurants closed, hotels and other places closed, but we continued. Our Board member Zeynep said we cannot receive this allowance, it would be shameful. We all said similarly, we would be ashamed to ask, and we didn't ask. In conclusion, returning to the question you asked earlier about where Atabay's success comes from, I can say this: when we started our journey, we set a line for ourselves and we continue on the same line, and working today with people who have 40 years of history brings that memory with us. People who set out in 1970 continue on that path and look after it so that we also go on that path. This is a very, very important thing. Founded in 1939, after Bülent took over management in 1967, a real big breakthrough was experienced, and now it continues under the management of his daughters Zeynep and Ayşe Atabay. Zeynep Atabay is our Board Chairperson. As we said, having this memory still present in the company is our major priority. Because sometimes we can get excited, but our elders tell us stop, friends, we saw that path, calm down, and seeing them right in the long term and leaning on this confidence-giving memory is quite valuable.

Do you have memories from these old times you mentioned? Could you share them with us?

Of course, for example, back then you need a stainless steel tank but there isn't one. We have a small workshop downstairs from those days, we made our own stainless steel tanks there. We say medicine, but we are not only talking about human medicines. Agricultural medicines and veterinary medicines have always been our working areas. Because we have cared about the necessity of raw materials in all these medicines, from then until now we own approximately 150 different processes. By process we mean a detailed description from beginning to end of how a raw material is produced. This also means going back in stages and contributing to the development of chemical subgroups. That is, we play a role in the production of the chemicals we use, sub-chemicals, solvents, and in creating a value chain. Here the design of reactors, centrifuges, etc., and other apparatus necessary for use in chemical production is our own work. That is, we did not pay a foreign company for these, and we don't pay. In the processes we described, in the designs, there is neither royalty nor patent nor anything else paid abroad. It is entirely the product of this memory. We display and explain all of these in technical tours to both provide incentive and arouse excitement in our youth. Look, these things are being done in Turkey, other things can also be done, we care about giving this feeling. In agricultural medicines, we have withdrawn a bit recently because the competition from China and India is state-supported, so it could not be sustained. By producing the raw material for the agricultural medicine used in locust control in Turkey, Turkey made great progress in fighting locusts during a certain period. All locusts in Turkey were eliminated with medicines made from our produced pharmaceutical raw materials. Returning to medicine, as you know, there is making medicine through chemical methods, making medicine through herbal methods, and as raw materials, making medicine through biotechnological methods. As Atabay, both through chemical methods; Paracetamol is produced through chemical methods, in herbal medicines I mentioned earlier, producing raw materials found in them, that is, producing glycyrrhizic acid found in licorice root or obtaining raw material through standardized extraction method from rabbit mallow root, and from this raw material making a herbal medicinal product. Obtaining a medicine used in varicose diseases. Look, here it is always about creating value, adding value, creating value from these things for other auxiliary industries, and including them in the system. Biotechnological method; it is a developing method. As Atabay, we established a Biotechnology facility to produce pharmaceutical raw materials through biotechnological methods and to produce medicines from this. Here we also produce the medicine itself used in eye degeneration in the elderly. That is, our goal is this: starting from the raw materials of medicines used in Turkey, reaching them to the end consumer, to be a self-sufficient structure. Food, Defense, Energy, and Medicine are areas of strategic importance in Turkey. In these areas, Turkey should be self-sufficient and not dependent on outside. When producing these, you will not only do it for yourself, and you need to think towards the global world. Not just for Turkey. Turkey already matches the European Union Constitution one-to-one with regulations and rules in medicine. Our facilities are exactly the same as facilities in America and Germany. We have no difference. We produce generic medicines, but there is no difference between our conditions and those of companies producing original medicines. In addition to this, we need to return to the issue of pharmaceutical raw material production that we explained earlier. This question may come to mind: well, where is this knowledge coming from? We developed this knowledge here. In our R&D center here, we develop and maintain this knowledge. Working on this day and night, we reach this knowledge.

Since the subject has been opened, I would like to ask, could you share information with our readers about your R&D studies?

At the very beginning of the story, our master and teacher Bülent Atabay is an excellent organic chemist. We learned everything from him. Therefore, under the leadership of Bülent Atabay, we began conducting R&D work by screening patents, and we began to achieve results in this. Of course, we also progressed through external knowledge transfer. This is how pharmaceutical raw materials were born. Not only human medicine but similarly agricultural medicine also came out of this R&D center. Now, thanks to Doğan Bey, we are establishing a large R&D center. We currently have twelve projects in this center, we will complete our projects within this year. Each year with additional projects, we will have a broad range in the raw materials area and will have expanded our product range. We ourselves provided the research, development, and bringing to industrial scale of all the raw materials we produced. This was secured with chemistry knowledge and archives. When we moved to production, we also design and make the necessary equipment ourselves, we don't buy it from outside. From 1971 onwards, we became such a chemical machinery company back then. Just as you need a pot when cooking, you need equipment when making raw materials, and we make these ourselves. Of course, under the conditions of that time, you try to make a reactor, you try to make stainless steel, we came to this day by learning through trial and error. We initially tried to provide -80 degree cooling inside the reactor, but we found that the raw material was destroyed. All of these are experience; you cannot gain anything without risking losing something. We sometimes put nitrogen into the reactor, then we said this doesn't work either, let's cool it from outside, we said. Later, by cooling from outside with liquid nitrogen, we reduced it to -80 degrees. That is, coming from those days to this day in this way, we own approximately 150 processes. Each process has its own story. We encountered difficulties, and by seeing how we overcame them, we gained experience. Of course, we face dangers too. I have had to undergo eye surgery many times. But unfortunately, without these things, work is not learned. As we overcome problems, we became more involved in the work.

Does your company have social responsibility projects you have contributed to? If so, could you share them with us?

The truth is, our work itself is already a comprehensive social responsibility project because we produce our own raw materials at low costs and aim to provide our people with more affordable medicines. We aim to make people better. We tried to fulfill this mission wholeheartedly during the Pandemic. This is our social responsibility. We also have a dream to establish a pharmaceutical raw material-themed industrial vocational high school in the area where our factory is located. We want it to be called Bülent Atabay Pharmaceutical Technical Vocational High School. And we aim to develop generations who understand the inside of the business here.

So what innovations await Atabay in the coming times?

In our new R&D center, we aim to digitally transfer the knowledge accumulated until now and the memory and share it with young people. Actually, when you look at it, clean knowledge transfer is also a kind of innovation. We will also realize the innovation of preserving and transferring what is already here in our R&D center. For example, the Ministry asked us for pharmaceutical raw material against smoking, and we produced and provided this raw material. How fortunate we have such an opportunity. Again, the Ministry asked us to produce the raw material for our Enfluverine Antiviral Medicine, and we met that need. At that time, due to a foreign company's prices, it was not possible to access it, but we solved this ourselves and launched it on the market. In short, we care very much about this raw materials business. The innovations ahead will be in this direction. As Atabay, our goal, within the framework of the philosophy explained a little earlier, is when we multiply plants grown in Turkey through industrial agriculture and again standardize their extraction under industrial standards and produce medicine, in this case the address of the raw material becomes Turkey. In this way, dependence on abroad is eliminated. That is why herbal medicine is critical. Turkey is one of the countries with the most fertile lands in the world in terms of plant distribution. The intersection of three main plant zones. I would like to emphasize herbal medicine, not food supplements. Extraction and the subsequent process can create a serious difference in Turkey. We want to take a place in this area. Because we have process knowledge for the extraction of over thirty plants. It is imperative to evaluate this. Another point is university and industry cooperation for biotechnological-biosimilar medicine production. We entered this field from 2016 onwards. In the coming times, we want to develop this in our R&D center. We have vaccine projects with Dokuz Eylül University and Ege University. These projects are very important because they are conducted with platform technology. Once you learn platform technology, you make a Covid vaccine today and develop a vaccine for another disease tomorrow. mRNA vaccine technology was a method developed for cancer, but they adapted it for the Covid vaccine today, which has become a good example of cumulative evaluation of this knowledge. We additionally opened laboratories for these, so people can come here and conduct pilot production on a commercial scale, and thus both we and universities learn and progress. Another point is chemical synthesis. That is, being able to produce the raw materials the country needs. We aim to continue by sustaining thousands of tons of raw material production.