Sailing on regulatory tailwind
In addition to the established collaborations, much of 2021’s success is attributed to the recent increasing regulatory requirements for improved procedures for the preparation of medicines, with several directives having been published in the EU, UK and US in 2021. In its report, Pharmacolog highlights a clear example that illustrates this shift in the market: B. Braun UK established a new, separate business area to help the healthcare organizations in the country meet the new requirements.
New Chief Operating Officer
Now that the growth machinery has properly begun, it is time to shift up deliveries. For this reason, Lars Gusch joined the team as the new Chief Operating Officer at the turn of the year. In this role, he will take on the task of scaling up production capacity and developing the company’s service offerings. BioStock spoke with Gusch in an interview that you can read here.
As part of its development plans, Pharmacolog aims to develop a new generation of the hardware platform, to make it more cost-effective and, as the company puts it, future-proof. On the software side, investments will be made in order to provide more advanced service products.
CEO comments
In connection with the newly released year-end report, BioStock contacted CEO Mats Högberg to get his opinion.
Mats, together with Codonics you have entered several new countries besides the U.S., and with B. Braun you are looking at a global rollout. Is it possible to say when these investments will start to appear in the order intake?
– To some extent, I would say that they are already visible in the figures for 2021 and in the significant events communicated in the report. Our strategy is to work with strategic partners to a large extent because it provides a better opportunity for rapid growth compared to building your own sales organization. Our significant increase in sales is largely due to the fact that our partner collaborations have started to pay-off after a challenging period with a pandemic and extensive restrictions.
– The potential is huge now that our key markets are starting to open up and I expect that the investments we have made together with Codonics and B. Braun will continue to be visible in the order intake in the future.
Now that sales have begun to pick up, the situation for the company is changing financially compared to before. At the same time, you are signaling for continued investments, so how do you view the company’s financial situation in the light of that?
– The company’s financial situation is stable, and we have a reassuring amount of working capital. We largely follow the plan that we laid out before the directed issue in 2020. In addition, we also received a valuable capital injection with the highly successful subscription of warrants that was carried out during August 2021.
Now that you can add the breakthrough year 2021 to the documents, what are you most looking forward to in 2022?
– I am very excited to lead the company into the next phase, characterized by growth and expansion. The last two years have been an ordeal for the entire industry, and I am proud that we delivered good results for the full year 2021.
– Now we are entering a new and restriction-free year where the team and our partners can work under more normal circumstances. I am convinced that 2022 will be a very exciting year for Pharmacolog and our shareholders.
