print version

Amidst a constantly changing Industry, Hovione’s management met on January 11th to discuss the top strategies for 2007 and the future.
The sun was barely showing over the Tagus river and our colleagues from New Jersey, Loures and Hong Kong were already gathering at a hotel in Lisbon, full of anticipation for the day to come. As usual the Group’s strategies are approved in January, ready for the cascading process for all areas. This year the four major challenges we face, drawn from the 8th Master Plan, were presented and discussed at this meeting:

Generic competitiveness Segmentation of the exclusive-rights market Core+ - new markets, new technologies Raising the Bar – demand more from ourselves!

Over 60 management staff divided into 8 groups openly discussed various issues, anticipating risks and opportunities and outlining action plans that were presented during the day. Several topics were discussed ranging from the innovative opportunities brought by Particle Design and Pharma to the challenges of how better to lead people to face a growth scenario.
At the end of the day we celebrated the signature of an important contract which
represents a new market segment for Hovione, achieved thanks to new technologies. This is an excellent indicator of the company´s future in a year that anticipates strong growth, demanding work and intense learning for Hovione and its entire staff.

Hovione Loures received, on February 1st, the ISO 14001 Certificate of Registration from SGS ICS – International Certification Services. This certificate is the recognition that we are in compliance with the regulations and committed to the constant improvement of environmental management. This was the result of a year and half’s work to implement the Health, Safety and Environment Management System throughout the whole site. This involved the cooperation of all employees who deserve our congratulations!
With this certification and that of Hovione Macau obtained in 2005, all Hovione sites are now ISO 14001 certified. This represents our commitment to the protection of the environment and its sustainable development.

Hovione has recently passed two inspections by Infarmed, the Portuguese health authority. The Macau plant received the GMP certificate for all of the products it manufactures and exports This is the result of the GMP inspection carried out in September 2006 certifying that the plant operates in accordance with ICH Q7a and the European Guide to Good Manufacturing Practices, applicable to all Medicinal Products for Human and Veterinary Use. This certificate is valid for three years and will help our customers comply with the new directive that requires them to use APIs from GMP certified manufacturers.
The Pharma Unit in Loures was inspected in May 2006 with respect to GMP conformity applicable to medicinal products under research for human and veterinary use. This Unit received a GMP certificate and a Manufacture Authorisation for the supply of phase I and phase II clinical trials, enabling customers to obtain additional products and services from Hovione, and opening the way into the field of formulated products. In total, Infarmed inspected and certified 20 active ingredients.

The conference “Spray Drying – Solutions for the Pharmaceutical Industry” promoted by the European Compliance Academy (ECA) with the cooperation of Concept Heidelberg was held in Lisbon on the 8th and 9th November last.
Hovione participated at this conference, with two specific interventions:

• Filipe Gaspar participated as a speaker on the theme “Spray Drying at Hovione”.
• A site visit to Hovione attracted 44 people from the conference including both potential clients and competitors. This visit was much appreciated and the results of the survey carried out were very positive.

Hovione in New Jersey has been accepted into the OSHA VPP (Occupational Safety & Health Administration, Voluntary Protection Program) at the highest status - STAR. Official notification shall come from Washington DC in 1 to 2 months via a letter from the Assistant Secretary of Labor. An overview of the OSHA VPP program follows to highlight the magnitude of this accomplishment.

OSHA Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) Overview
Working with industry and labor, The federal Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) created the Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) to recognize and partner with worksites that implement exceptional systems to manage worker safety and health. The management and employees at these sites voluntarily implement comprehensive safety & health management systems - that go far beyond basic compliance with OSHA regulations.
The VPP process emphasizes holding managers accountable for worker safety & health through measurable goals, the continual identification and elimination of hazards and the active involvement of employees in their own protection. The process places significant reliance on the cooperation and trust inherent in a partnership. Sites choosing to apply for VPP recognition show their commitment to effective worker protection by inviting government regulators into their workplace. In return, OSHA removes them from programmed inspections and does not issue citations for violations that are promptly corrected.
The statistical evidence for VPP's success is impressive. Consistently over its 25 year history, the average VPP worksite has had an incidence rate for days away from work, restricted work activity and/or job transfer that is at least 50 percent below the average for its industry! Other benefits include:

• minimized HSE risk to Hovione and its clients
• recognition in the community as an outstanding corporate citizen
• reduction in worker's compensation costs and work interruptions
• improved ability to attract employees to an exceptional work environment
• elimination of compliance costs associated with programmed inspections

Once the final acceptance into the VPP program has been issued there will be a site presentation of a flag, etc. to Hovione by OSHA as well as some state & local officials. There are currently only 38 sites in New Jersey that have obtained the STAR VPP status. Most of these sites are large corporations with vast resources. These companies require anywhere from 3 to 5 years to put the necessary systems in place to pass OSHA's criteria. The TTC accomplished this endeavor in less than 12 months with only about 40 site employees. This shows the commitment to worker safety and health that has existed at the TTC since its inception. Everyone at Hovione should be extremely proud of this prestigious accomplishment and thankful to work for a company that truly values its employees!

Portuguese prime Minister, José Sócrates, visited China on an official visit between 29th January and 4th February. Hovione integrated the official group, represented by Peter Villax. It is the fourth time Hovione has received such an invitation having previously accompanied Prime Ministers Cavaco Silva and António Guterres and President Sampaio on visits to China.
China is, nowadays, a colossus of economic growth, which thanks to work, adrenalin and intelligent management has already succeeded in overcoming the backwardness which for a hundred years characterised its economy. Shanghai is, at the moment, undoubtedly the most dynamic city in the planet full of stunning skyscrapers, motorways packed with German cars and where an impressive number of people surges forth in leaps and bounds in search of a better life. China holds, at present, a unique record in History: two decades of economic growth of over 8% per year, an unprecedented achievement.
This growth has also brought problems and, within the next three years, China will overtake the United States in the production of gases contributing to global warming. The speed with which the new electricity production plants (using coal) are built is of one every two weeks and the plan is to increase capacity by 100GW, an increase higher than Germany’s total capacity. This is reflected in the colour of the air and a brown smog can be seen over the cities of Beijing and Shanghai. Of the ten most polluted cities in the world, six are Chinese.
But China is aware of these problems and this is an important weapon to fight them. Gone are the days when problems were blamed on others and the truth was hidden. Reading “China Daily”, the official English language newspaper, we see there is a clear intention to show the difficulties, the environmental accidents, the inequalities between coastal and inland regions, corrupt officials and counterfeiting – and a determination to deal with them.
There is a first class administration and in spite of having maintained the Communist Party as a symbol and as a means of authority which still effectively controls the political, economic and social aspects, China has managed to transform a socialist economy into a market economy with a success that no one dared to predict when Mao Tse-Tung died in 1976. The official policy is to “Get rich first and share later” and this was the major legacy left by the promoter of this change, Deng Xiao-Ping. It was he who once said: “It doesn’t matter whether the cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice”.
China has, therefore, shown it has the ability to continue to grow and still face its problems in an efficient way. One question remains: will it be able to carry on indefinitely like this without political reform? Will the Chinese society be able to reconcile economic well-being with the lack of freedom to access internet, choose which books to read or which politicians to represent them? In the west we let off steam every four years when we talk, debate and elect our government, preserving the stability and the continuity of our system. It will be fascinating to witness China’s development in this and other areas. 

The Marketing and Sales group attended AAPS for the third time, in San Antonio in Texas, last November 2006. This is the largest meeting of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists and there are about 7,000 formulators, drug product manufacturing experts and purchasing managers that attend the show. This trade show is very important for Hovione to promote our nanotechnologies capabilities and create awareness of our particle design know-how. Hovione was present with a booth and made inquiries to participants to assess the interest in particle design, obtaining very positive feedback.
* (American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists)

Aiming to promote the communication of our activities as well as strengthen relationships with our partners, Hovione has set up an electronic service to keep business colleagues and friends informed.
To subscribe, please access our website at www.hovione.com and click on the link displayed on the homepage to fill in a short form to select the type of information you wish to receive automatically by email: press releases, HOVIONews or articles about Hovione.
This will ensure you are permanently updated about our company. Don´t forget to subscribe!

St. Martin was once again celebrated on November 11th in Macau

For the sixth consecutive year Hovione Macau invited the Portuguese local Community, to celebrate the traditional “magusto” festival, at which the main ingredients are, roast chestnuts and pomace wine. The party was attended by 200 people and helps keep the Portuguese culture alive in the Macau territory.

Anthony DiSanti, 28 years old, joined Hovione in October ’02 as an R&D Chemist after graduating from Rutgers College, Rutgers University. He worked at Hovione New Jersey's Industrial Operations and R&D Departments. Anthony returns to New Jersey after a 15 months long stay in Loures.

During my 15 months at the Loures site, I had a special opportunity to meet people I only knew of through email or teleconference. I also had a chance to experience a new culture. I think this exchange program will benefit Hovione by bringing different cultures together and allowing people to built relationships with far-off colleagues. It is these relationships that will help bring us closer together as a single unit and not three separate parts.
I began by spending four months rotating through the various manufacturing areas of the company. In New Jersey I had spent time in the pilot plant, but seeing this was a whole new level – the reactors and product batches were much larger than I was used to. Most of my time in New Jersey has been in R&D, and so the large-scale manufacturing I saw at the Loures site was a new experience. I now have a deeper understanding of the goals for the R&D work I do, as I have seen where it will eventually go.
For the remaining 11 months I was in R&D, where I met and worked with many great people. Here I found another difference, the use of technicians to help with the chemistry under the supervision of chemists. In New Jersey all the chemistry is done by chemists, so this was new for me.
I also discovered that Portuguese food is very different from what I’m used to, and it was a wonderful experience. Since Portugal has a long coastline, seafood is a much more important part of the diet than in the US. My first day was a big surprise, when for lunch I had many small fried fish, which I later learned are eaten bones and all except for the head.
The chemistry education was very important for my professional development, but the most important thing was learning about my colleagues. I got to understand their technical skills as chemists, and also had an opportunity to get to know them as people.
I have brought back a profound respect for my Portuguese colleagues that is based on my personal knowledge of them as chemists and professionals. I know them and they got to know me. I think this will help us build better communication between the sites, since we’re not just names to each other, we’re real people.
The relationships that I formed already are so important in my day-to-day work. For example, I’m now working on a project with Carlos Alvarez. We got to know each other while I was in Portugal, and I knew Carlos to be very intelligent, friendly and helpful even before I returned to New Jersey. On this project Carlos and I speak at least once a day; he helps me think through things that are needed to make the project successful. Those conversations would be much harder and probably less productive if Carlos and I didn’t already know each other and if I didn’t start out with a great deal of respect for him based on my personal experience with him.
On a lighter note, I also learned that the Portuguese take football (soccer) very seriously. This was very noticeable when I played football with my colleagues on Saturday mornings. I discovered that Hovione has some very talented football players! I also had the pleasure of hiking, running and cycling on some of Portugal’s scenic routes.