Actavis (Malta) will be increasing production from 1.7 billion tablets to 2.8 billion tablets a year in the coming months, the president and CEO of Actavis Iceland said yesterday.
Speaking to The Malta Independent, Robert Wessman said the Maltese company was planning to increase tablet-production and would shortly be announcing new products that have been developed in Malta.
Actavis (Malta) was set up in 2001 after the Icelandic company bought out a local pharmaceutical operation.
“The company in Malta is our production centre in the European Union,” Mr Wessman said.
“Before choosing Malta we went through a list of possible locations. Malta met all the criteria and I am very pleased with the progress registered here,” he added.
Mr Wessman said Actavis came to Malta because the government offered an excellent environment in which to do business and invest.
“You also have a highly-skilled workforce and the majority of people speak English. We have looked at other locations but Malta is very competitive compared to other places,” Mr Wessman said.
“We have a strategic advantage here, otherwise we would not have come here,” he said.
Actavis have invested more than E50 million and have basically rebuilt the local operation, Mr Wessman told The Malta Independent.
“The Maltese plant is as good as its gets. Yes, we are very happy with what is happening in Malta and the local operation is very profitable.
“We are shipping to all EU countries from Malta and have over 200 products under development,” he said.
Asked if any trials were under way, Mr Wessman said the companies in Malta and Iceland were focused on both production and development of new products.
“We have been working since 2001 here and we are soon to announce some products that were developed here,” he added.
One of the main problems facing high- tech companies in small countries is the dearth of highly-skilled people with post-graduate and doctoral experience.
“We have the same problem in Iceland. Malta is not an exception. We believe in extensive training for our employees and our staff is very loyal to the company. We are a small country like Malta and finding the right people is not always easy,” Mr Wessman said.