The Tsetis Group of Pharmaceutical Companies (OFET) is active in the research and development of innovative pharmaceutical dosage forms, and also in the production and distribution of branded pharmaceutical products, food supplements and medical devices, both in the Greek domestic market and in rapidly developing foreign markets (>60 countries worldwide). OFET’s strategic planning primarily focuses on health professionals and patients, by offering innovative forms of well-established, low-cost and high value-added pharmaceutical molecules, and by manufacturing and distributing model functional foods and medical devices, both in the Greek domestic market and in more than 60 countries worldwide. The Group’s powerful brand names include, among others, Apotel, Salospir, Algofen, T4, Trebon, Hemafer, Omalin, Chlorexil, Reval, Eva belle and Optofresh.
OFET has developed a highly significant technical expertise on original forms, having secured a series of Patents relevant to innovative formulation mechanisms for the above products. At its current stage, the company is active in the development of more than 20 new products, with an annual Research and Development budget of €1,000,000, for the purpose of modifying the physicochemical properties of active substances in order to avoid their irritating effects or their deactivation through biotransformation before they develop their therapeutic effect on target tissues. In addition, over the past few years, the company has placed its focus on innovative carriers, new encapsulation and bonding techniques, and any other type of chelation.
In this framework, the Research and Development departments of OFET are manned by scientific staff with complementary specializations, including pharmacists, chemists, chemical engineers, biologists and food technologists, all of whom are highly specialized: the department has nine employees with Master’s Degrees and four employees with PhDs.
One of OFET’s basic initiatives is the development of collaborations with academic and research organizations, with the ultimate goal and anticipated result of boosting technological development, innovation and entrepreneurship. These three parameters form the basic pillars of economic development.
The anticipated result from OFET’s partnership with the academic community is the advancement of competitiveness and productivity of the enterprise, not merely for the purpose of transitioning to quality innovative entrepreneurship and the development of value-added products, but also for improving the outward-looking prospects of the business towards the international markets. At the same time, this partnership is mutually beneficial for the country’s academic/research community, who, on the one hand, sees its ideas, which are supported by basic research, successfully transferred to the real economy, and on the other hand, academic partners learn the concept of entrepreneurial thinking.
Furthermore, one of the major objectives of this initiative is to halt the flight of young and distinguished scientists abroad – the so-called brain drain phenomenon. It should be noted that approximately 69% of total scientists who left Greece during the recent decade hold a postgraduate or doctoral degree, while 41% of said scientists acquired their doctoral degrees in Greece. Through the development of collaborations between OFET and the academic sector, young scientists are offered strong incentives to remain in their country and use their knowledge and ideas for its benefit. The next subsequent step is to use this manpower in the industry in order to promote technological competitiveness and innovation.
In the same context, all innovative products that will result from the synergy between the enterprise and academic / research organizations will constitute intellectual property of the parties, which can be secured and further utilized through patents.