We performed an interview with Mr. Barış Özyurtlu who is General Manager of Berko Pharmaceuticals. And talked about R&D center, investments of the company also the importance of technology in medical science.
Can you tell us about yourself and your professional background?
I am a pharmacist. I started my career in 2002 Berko Pharmaceuticals. I worked as a pharmacist for four years after working as the Regional Directorate for seven years. In 2014, I returned to Berko Pharmaceuticals as the Assistant General Manager.
After serving for two years as the Assistant General Manager, I was appointed as the general manager in 2016 and I am still working as the General Manager of Berko Pharmaceuticals.
was a board of directors member of Diyarbakir Chamber of Pharmacists for four years.
Currently, my office as the representative of TPA (Turkish Pharmacists’ Association) still continues and at the same time I serve as the IVEK Board of Trustees Member and the President of IVEK Pharmaceutical Industry and Technologies Commission.
Can you share with our readers the success story of Berko Pharmaceuticals which started its journey in the laboratory of Diyarbakır Beran Pharmacy?
Berko Pharmaceuticals, which started its journey by Pharmacist Berat Beran in the 70s with independent pharmacy practices, took its place in the pharmaceuticals industry under the name Berko Pharmaceuticals in 1984 and continues to work and produce to improve public health.
Berko Pharmaceuticals, introducing the innovative products not existing in the market to the industry and Turkish medicine with the vision of “being the first and only in the course selected”, also stands out with many innovative marketing applications such as the single-use spoon form it has developed.
Berko Pharmaceuticals, being established by a whole national capital, provides service to Turkish medicine and world health in world standards with its 127 products, employees more than 700 persons and its manufacturing sites with a closed area of 21.000 square meters.
Berko Pharmaceuticals has grown by 150% in the last five years and has maintained its place among the fastest growing companies.
Can you give information about the activities carried out in your production facilities? How do you define product-environment-worker safety that is your priority in your production facilities?
Our production is carried out in our factory located in Sultanbeyli, Istanbul, which consists of three facilities we named as Phase I, Phase II and Phase III. Our Phase I Production Facility, which started its operations in 2008, has an approximate closed area of 5,000 m2 and products in liquid and solid form are manufactured here.
The major pharmaceutical dosage forms produced here are syrup, suspension, emulsion, tablet, film coated tablet, capsule and sachet. Our Phase I Production Facility has an annual production capacity of 43,620,000 million boxes.
In our Phase II Production Facility, which started its operations in 2012, has a closed area of 5,000 m2 and products in liquid and semi-solid form are manufactured here.
The major pharmaceutical dosage forms produced in this plant are syrup, suspension, emulsion, probiotics, reservoir lid, drops, spray, pomade, cream, lotion, gel, spray-gel, ovule and suppositories.
Our Phase II Production Facility has an annual production capacity of 42,400,000 million boxes. Due to increasing production demands, our Phase III Production Facility, which has a closed area of 11,000 m2, was opened in November 2018 with an annual production capacity of 56,000,000 million boxes.
In Berko Pharmaceuticals Sites, production of licensed pharmaceutical products registered by the Turkish Republic Ministry of Health and of the supplementary food preparations licensed by the Turkish Republic Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock are carried out.
Berko Pharmaceuticals, having achieved the FDA registration of its manufacturing sites for supplementary food products, also serves the pharmaceutical industry in contract manufacturing. Currently, contract manufacturing is done for 14 companies.
In our production facility, product safety, plant design, equipment selection and all processes from production to the distribution of the products are ensured to be managed by establishing a system under the conditions and in the standards set by GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices).
Our company is extremely sensitive and responsible towards environment and employee safety issues. All necessary precautions are taken with our procedures established in accordance with all legislation related to environment and employee safety.
Could you give information about your domestic and foreign sales activities?
Being a strong brand in the Turkish pharmaceutical market, Berko Pharmaceuticals has performed a major breakthrough in the field of export since 2016. It has signed contracts with 41 countries within the scope of its foreign trade activities.
Active trade has been initiated with 16 of these and licensing and registration process with the remaining 25 countries are ongoing.
Berko Pharmaceuticals exports mainly to USA, Canada and Azerbaijan as well as Georgia, Iraq, Kosovo, Macedonia, Moldova, Vietnam, South Korea, Lebanon, Sudan, Dagestan, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Saudi Arabia.
In addition to its breakthroughs in the field of export and taking firm steps towards becoming a world brand,
Berko Pharmaceuticals has been entitled to participate in the “Turquality Brand Support Program” which has recently been conducted and put into operation by Turkish Republic Ministry of Economy to create “Global Turkish Brands”.
Berko Pharmaceuticals will be receiving support for four years under the program and will accelerate its success of exports.
What is the difference between your Phase III Production Facility which has been recently put into operation and your other Production Facilities? What will be the privileges it will add to your products and the sector?
To add new innovative products and technologies to the existing ones and to meet the increasing production demands,
Berko Pharmaceuticals planned and performed the opening of Phase III Production Facility with the target to increase the capacity of 86,020,000 million boxes of our Phase I and Phase II Production Facilities by 65% to achieve a capacity of 142,020,000 million boxes.
By this means, Berko Pharmaceuticals attained a closed area of 21,000 square meters and an annual production capacity of 142 million boxes.
How do you define R&D? Can you tell us about the R&D activities of Berko Pharmaceuticals?
R&D is the creative work carried out on a systematic basis to increase the knowledge of people formed by the culture and society information and to use this knowledge to design new applications.
Pharmaceutical R&D essentially consists of two stages: basic research and clinical researches. In our country, R&D activities in the pharmaceutical sector are carried out in a way to include generic (equivalent) drug development operations and clinical studies which are necessary.
Our Founder Pharmacist Berat Beran’s passion for innovation and his desire to put forth different innovative products have always made R&D processes to be very important in Berko Pharmaceuticals.
By this means, Berko R&D develops products for domestic and foreign markets in accordance with national and international legislation by employing researchers, pharmacists, chemists, engineers and technicians who are capable of demonstrating different technical approaches, having a scientific output logic and competency to maintain the R&D activities in order to launch innovative products monitored in the sector and to satisfy the needs of the society with the R&D activities.
What are your investments in R&D? Can you share with us our readers the contributions of these investments to your products?
R&D means qualified personnel. For this purpose, we started our R&D investments by increasing our number of qualified personnel in the first place.
Afterwards, our larger R&D laboratories, the physical conditions of which we have improved, equipped with high-tech devices and tools and for which we made an investment of approximately 11 million Turkish Liras in 2018, obtained the R&D Center approval from the Ministry of Industry and Technology after a successful audit process.
As Berko Pharmaceuticals, I believe that our efforts to become an accredited R&D center will make a significant contribution to our operations to develop high-tech products which will increase our competitiveness at international level.
Which products will you be launching to the market in the forthcoming period?
As Berko Pharmaceuticals, we have products available for treatment areas such as Pediatrics, Dermatology, Obstetrics, Family Medicine and ENT and we will continue to work and produce in these areas with different active substances and products.
In addition to these areas, we aim to focus more on PMR, Internal Diseases and Orthopedics areas and our new products for these areas are in R&D and licensing stages. Our high-tech products with high added value are also present in our business development and R&D processes.
Which social responsibility projects are you carrying out?
Berko Pharmaceuticals, embracing the issue of social responsibility as a priority, adopts an understanding to pay regard to social interests rather than corporate interests and develops its projects accordingly.
Berko Pharmaceuticals contributes to the society through major projects such as the Berko Children’s Theater, “No Barriers on Ice” ice skating team, visits to newborn units with the activity “Welcome Baby” and career presentations at Faculties of Pharmacy under the name “Pharmacist’s Career Path” and “Uncover the Obstacles”.
At the same time, the requirements of village schools are satisfied, scholarships are granted to the students in need and projects are carried out with many foundations and non-governmental organizations.
