Prague – 27 August, 2020: Today, a government delegation led by the Czech Republic's Prime Minister Andrej Babiš met with Zentiva’s top management in Prague. On this occasion, Prime Minister Babiš thanked Zentiva and its committed employees for their work during the coronavirus crisis. As the largest local generic drug producer, Zentiva actively responded to the changing demand for high-quality and affordable medicines by increasing its production capacity and started manufacturing hand sanitizer.

“I would like to thank not only the management team of Zentiva, but especially its employees who worked 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, in response to an increased demand for medicines. Zentiva significantly supported the availability of drugs during the coronavirus crisis”, said Prime Minister Babiš during a press meeting at Zentiva premises.

The government delegation led by Prime Minister Andrej Babiš also included Minister of Health Adam Vojtěch, epidemiologist and Government Commissioner for Science and Research Roman Prymula and CzechInvest CEO Patrik Reichl. The government delegation met with Zentiva’s top management, led by Zentiva CEO Nick Haggar and Zentiva’s General Manager for the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Soňa Porubská.

“Zentiva is an international company with its heart in the Czech Republic. We had a valuable discussion today with the Czech Government and we are looking forward to future cooperation as we share the same ambition: support the people in the Czech Republic who are depending on high-quality and affordable medicines every day”, said Nick Haggar, CEO Zentiva.

Zentiva's roots reach back 530 years and are connected with the well-known pharmacy U Černého orla, where the tradition of systematic production of medications on Czech territory was established. Today, Zentiva operates in more than 30 markets. In the Czech Republic, our company brings significant benefit to the Czech economy and delivers more than 75% of homemade products.

“Zentiva has a unique footprint combining a best-in-class R&D center, our production site, our commercial organisation and Headquarters together in one place, which allows us to make fast decisions and actively respond to the needs of people in the Czech Republic,” said Soňa Porubská.

In addition, Zentiva hosted a discussion between the representatives of The Pharmaceutical Applied Research Centre (“The Parc”) and the governmental delegation. The PARC is a unique research platform that offers a graduate program in pharmaceutical sciences bridging chemistry, pharmaceutical technology, biopharmacy and clinical research. Under the leadership of experienced scientists both from academia and the pharmaceutical industry, this program provides students a great opportunity to get world class education combined with practical hands-on industrial and business experience. It has been initiated by Zentiva in association with three academic partners: the Faculty of Science of Charles University, the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences and the University of Chemistry and Technology in Prague. During 5 years of its operation, it has offered several dozen of students graduate education, internships abroad and sharing of scientific know-how across various countries.
More details on https://www.theparc.eu/

The visit was concluded with a tour through the production facility.

About Zentiva

Zentiva is a producer of high-quality affordable medicines serving patients in Europe and beyond. With a dedicated team of more than 4,500 people and a network of production sites - including flagship sites in Prague, Bucharest and Ankleshwar - Zentiva strives to be the champion of branded and generic medicines in Europe to better support people’s daily healthcare needs.
At Zentiva it is our aspiration that healthcare should be a right and not a privilege. More than ever, people need better access to high quality affordable medicines and healthcare. We work in partnership with physicians, pharmacists, wholesalers, regulators and governments to provide the everyday solutions that we all depend on. For more information visit www.zentiva.com.

Media Contact:

Mounira Lemoui
Head of Communications
ZENTIVA GROUP, a.s.
U kabelovny 529/16, Dolní Měcholupy, 102 00 Prague 10
Cell: (+420) 727 873 159
E-mail: mounira.lemoui@zentiva.com