AI Issue 4 2017

58 Acquisition International - April 2017 Xellia Pharmaceuticals is a world leader in the development, manufacture and supply of fermented anti-infectives sold as active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and finished dosage forms (FDFs) to the global pharmaceutical market. As part of our Prominent Women in Business series, we caught up with the company’s Andrea Dahle-Morville to find out more about her own role and the company she works for. he company’s product range covers anti- infectives, treating certain serious and life- threatening bacterial and fungal infections; Xellia being the world leading supplier of vancomycin and colistimethate sodium (CMS). The business is built to meet both immediate and long term requirements of their customers. During 2016, they focused strongly on customer service levels and worked in close collaboration with their customers to meet and exceed their expectations. “In 2016, we supported our customers with the launch of new generic anti-infectives in different geographical markets which contributed positively to our growth in revenue for the year. We also experienced increasing competition in certain markets, in particular from manufacturers operating in Asia, which highlights the importance of our continued emphasis on delivery performance and cost competitiveness” Andrea tells us before going on to expand this interesting point further. “Looking at the comments received from our customers; product quality, on-time-delivery and service are the three most frequently mentioned, in positive feedback we receive. Overall, from the feedback received, customers find the service we deliver to be one of our greatest assets. Securing solid relationships with customers, by delivering excellent customer service with a great product, is crucial for positive customer experiences with Xellia and towards our promising future. “Our vertical integration strategy enables us to supply our customers with multiple product forms, improve supply security leveraging multiple manufacturing sites and provide a ‘one-stop-shop’, offering both the API and the FDF. The transition to the supply of FDFs enables us to help simplify and streamline the supply chain for our customers by providing the final product. “As a global business, our customers include branded, specialty and generic pharmaceutical companies in more than 70 countries around the world. Over recent Company: Xellia Pharmaceuticals ApS Name: Andrea Dahle-Morville Site Quality Head FDF Email: andrea.dahle-morville@ xellia.com Web: www.xellia.com Address: Dalslandsgade 11 2300 Copenhagen S Denmark Phone: +45 3264 5501 +45 4199 0508 AManufacturing ‘One-Stop-Shop’ T 1704AI34 years, we have increased our focus on expanding in the US market and in 2016, more than 50% of our total sales were generated in the US.” To remain a leading business in the global generic anti- infectives market, Xellia is committed to, delivering excellence in the execution of our manufacturing and innovation processes and maintaining their compliance track record with the various regulators in the pharmaceutical industry. In 2016, they continued the focus on increasing delivery performance across their manufacturing network for both APIs and FDFs. Xellia were able to meet most of their key performance indicators for the year, and successfully passed a total of seven inspections by different regulatory authorities across their five global manufacturing sites. “In the pharmaceutical industry, we are very focused on the patient, we need to integrate internally and externally with our business partners, be transparent and driven by excellence. We need to move from reactive to proactive to predictive” Andrea goes on to say, before offering her thoughts on how the company fared during 2016. “2016 has also been a year in which awareness of the threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has continued to grow internationally as the world attempts to address this growing crisis. We develop treatments in a niche area of anti-infectives - developing last-resort antibiotics. As the need increases globally for our products, so does our commitment to society of ensuring a stable and reliable supply of our products. “Given the increasing challenge of AMR globally, we are more acutely aware than ever before of our responsibility in this area. Supplying the much- needed products is seen as a great opportunity for Xellia, as we continue to expand our manufacturing capabilities. The challenge lies within the threat of AMR and its fast pace growth which increases the demand at a very fast rate.” Andrea then goes on to outline her own job role and how she has been successful in her career. As head of quality for the finished products at Xellia Copenhagen site, she takes ownership of all quality assurance responsibilities, building and growing the quality assurance teams and providing leadership of the same, ensuring Xellia’s product quality. Basically, it makes bottom-line business sense to have gender diversity in the workplace today