Suprastin Becomes Georgian Consumers' Favorite Allergy Remedy

Suprastin, used for treating allergic reactions, and produced and distributed in Georgia by Hungarian company Egis Pharmaceuticals PLC, has won the Georgian business award Golden Brand.

General Manager of Egis Pharmaceuticals PLC Representation in Georgia, Lina Topuria, sat down with Golden Brand to review the brand’s success in the Georgian market.

Q. Suprastin has won the Golden Brand in Georgia. What led it to this recognition, in your opinion?
A. Suprastin is a medicine tested by years and practice, consistently demonstrating high quality and efficiency, and that is why it deserves the trust of its customers.

Suprastin tablets are used to treat allergic reactions and problems such as itching, hives, hay fever, herbal dermatitis, and reduce symptoms and itching from allergies caused by food, medications, and insect bites.

Suprastin has a very long history on the Georgian market. It has been available in the country for more than half a century. It was one of the first indispensable antihistamines then and still is today.

Although in recent years many antihistamines of the new generation have appeared on the Georgian pharmaceutical market, Suprastin is still the sales leader. Every year, including 2022, Suprastin has demonstrated double-digit sales growth.

Q. What is the competitive advantage of Suprastin?
A. Suprastin is a time-tested and practice-tested drug for the treatment of any allergy.

Suprastin is distinguished by its speed of action, high efficiency and safety. It is the only antihistamine that can be used from the age of one month.
Suprastin comes in both tablet and ampoule form. Ampoules are used in urgent allergic cases, when seconds decide everything.

It boasts the best combination of price and European quality.

Q. How widespread are allergies in Georgia?
A. In less than half a century, allergies, originally perceived as a rare disease, have become a major public health threat, today affecting the lives of more than 60 million people in Europe, and probably close to one billion worldwide. Over the last 20 years the prevalence of allergic diseases has increased by almost 50-7%. Air pollution, consumption of genetically modified foods, less physical activity, obesity, stress, generally unhealthy lifestyle and many other factors contribute to the increase in the incidence of allergies.

So almost half of the population in the modern civilized world suffers from different types of allergies. In Georgia, approximately 40%of the population has an allergic disease in one form or another, and this rate is increasing.

Q. Now let’s talk about Egis Pharmaceuticals PLC Representation in Georgia. How long has the company been operating in Georgia?
A. Hungarian pharmaceutical company Egis is today the leading generic pharmaceutical company in central eastern Europe, and its activities incorporate all areas of the pharmaceutical value chain. Egis is a member of the Servier Group, an international pharmaceutical company governed by a non-profit foundation with its headquarters in France.

For years Egis has been making high-tech investments in order to modernize the existing infrastructure and equip it with the latest equipment and provide the highest quality medicines to patients.

Egis has medical offices in 18 countries and its products are available in more than 70 countries of the world, including Western Europe, the United States of America and Japan. Currently, the factory produces 151 active substances and 634 products.

As for the representative office in Georgia, it opened in 1999.

I would like to proudly inform you that last year, according to the general ratings of Georgian enterprises developed by the Swiss Rating Association and the Business Rating Union, our representative office received a "gold rating" among Georgian businesses in terms of financial and economic activity.

Q. What was the first medicine that Egis brought to Georgia?
A. In the second half of the previous century, Halidor, Zitazonium and Clostilbegyt were successfully introduced in the Georgian pharmaceutical market. The company has already officially introduced a large list of medicines to Georgia since the 1990s ⁠— including the well-known Betadin, Egilok, Grandaxin, Sorbifer Durules and others.

Egis products are available in any pharmaceutical network in Georgia, while the official distributor is PSP, where you will find guaranteed quality medicines at the most affordable prices.

Currently, more than Egis medications in 200 forms are available in Georgian pharmacies.

Q. What contribution have you made to the Georgian pharmaceutical market?
A. Egis has made a great contribution not only to the development of the pharmaceutical market in Georgia, but also to the development of the economy of our country as a whole. Since its establishment, it has contributed up to 4 million GEL to the budget. After the opening of the Egis representative office in Georgia, many jobs have been created both in the capital city of Tbilisi and in the regions of our country.

Over the years Egis has enriched the Georgian pharmaceutical market with a number of innovative and unique medicines of the highest quality in such therapeutic areas as cardio-metabolic, psycho-neurological, gynecological, urological, oncological and general therapeutic areas.

The Egis portfolio is growing, with innovative new mono- and multi-component medicines added every year.

All the actions of the company are patient-oriented. Due to high social responsibility, Egis conducts free examinations in various therapeutic directions, and in recent years our team has been actively working to raise awareness of hyperuricemia and gout in society.

The company always pursues its primary mission ⁠— "Egis dedicates its knowledge to people to ensure their long and healthy life!"

Strong Wash to Open New Branches in Kutaisi and Batumi

Strong Wash, a Georgian company involved in the production and distribution of auto chemicals, installation of car washes, and sale of high-pressure washing machines, will expand with two new branches in the cities of Kutaisi and Batumi.

The company also plans to launch a new factory to increase its production capacity.

“In order to expand we have started the construction of a new factory which will be equipped with modern technologies and equipment,” Director of the company Shota Metreveli said.

In this interview with Golden Brand, Metreveli reviews the company’s operations on the Georgian market and shares his impressions of winning the Golden Brand award for the first time this year.

Q. In the category “favorite washing machines and service” Strong Wash has become Georgian customers’ top pick. What led the company to this recognition, in your opinion?
A. Our company is focused on providing quality services. Strong Wash provides maximum comfort to its customers.

Each laundry machine we install is innovative and adapted to modern challenges. I think that's why we won the Gold Brand Award.

Q. Golden Brand is given to companies based on the successful activities of the previous year. Please summarize 2022.
A. 2022 was a year full of challenges and at the same time many successful developments for Strong Wash. Despite big competition, the company was able to maintain its status of leading company of the year, so we believe that 2022 was a productive and experience-building year for our team.

Q. You mentioned that Strong Wash maintained its position of market leader in 2022. The company was established in 2020. How have you managed to achieve the leading position in such a short period of time?
A. Strong Wash appeared in 2020. At first we were involved only in installing car wash equipment with local purchases, but after earning customers’ trust in a short period of time, local purchases were no longer enough and we decided to start importing goods.

And we started the production of auto chemicals. Our company is a manufacturer of auto chemicals, auto shampoo and other car care products. These products are made with raw materials and technology of Italian origin.

At this stage the company owns two stores, in Tbilisi and Gori, with a distribution network throughout Georgia.

As for your question, I would say that offering quality products and justifying the expectations of the customers helped our company to gain first the trust and then love of our customers, which helped us to beat the competition and take the lead.

Q. Please introduce us to the international brands with which Strong Wash cooperates.
A. In Georgia we are the official representatives of the largest Turkish company Taha Wash, the Italian brand Hawk, which is the world's top manufacturer of pump equipment.

We also cooperate with R+M and GS.

Being the largest manufacturers of auto chemicals and auto equipment enables us to make it easy to cooperate with international brands and gain their trust.

Q. Strong Wash has become the “leading company of the year” at the international awards of the Swiss Rating Association and the National Business Ratings Union. Can you tell us what the market share of the company is?
A. Our team earned the status of leading company of the year as a result of hard work.

Currently we enjoy about 50% of the market share.

Our advantage is that the team is composed of professionals and the company is focused on product quality.

We also have active communication with our individual customers, which means talking openly about solving any issue or problem at any time.

Q. You signed a memorandum of cooperation with the Solidarity Fund of Georgia to help children defeat cancer. Why did you choose this charity?
A. Incidence of cancer has increased significantly in the world, and our country is no exception.

These children and adolescents have treatment costs that cannot easily be met given our country’s economic situation.

Regarding the question of why we decided to cooperate with the Solidarity Fund, the answer is very simple ⁠— we want to contribute to the recovery of each child with cancer. The Solidarity Fund is one of the largest such charities.

Helping children live happy and healthy lives in turn makes us happy.

Solari Expanding Portfolio WIth Almonds, Peanut Snacks

To meet the brand’s growing demand, Georgian sunflower seed company Solari is expanding its product portfolio with packaged almonds and peanuts for snacking for the local and export markets.

General Director of Solari, Iuri Tkebuchava, told Golden Brand that product testing started in May, and if the new products prove their viability they will be sold on the local market and later on the European.

“Hopefully our new products, like the traditional, will also satisfy customers, and we will occupy a worthy place in the Georgian market, giving us incentive to enter the European market," Tkebuchava said.

In the meantime Solari produces three types of sunflower seeds – roasted; salty roasted; and
shelled, roasted seeds. The company uses locally produced raw materials.

Solari has been operating on the Georgian market since 2014, when it first introduced roasted sunflower seeds.

Q. In order to produce a new line of products Solari has acquired a new factory, which would be the second in Tbilisi. Is the factory currently operational?
A. The space was not in accordance with the standards and useful for the purpose for which the company needed it, so we had to do a lot of construction and repair. At the moment, 80% of that work has been completed.

We have installed a cold storage area for storing products, arranged communications both on the internal and external perimeter, rigged up production elevators, etc. Based on the scale of the space, by the end of the year it should be done and ready for expanded operations.

Q. The company has also started preparatory work for obtaining the ISO certificate. What work do you have to do to get this?
A. We're in the process of obtaining the ISO international certificate.

We've brought hygiene and food safety in line with international requirements in the company's main factory. We also had to upgrade equipment. We think we'll have certification by the end of the year.

Q. The ISO certificate would also bring you closer to export to European markets. Have you already started negotiations with those countries?
A. Our team has set a goal to enter the European market, which means moving to European standards in all areas - quality of raw materials, production equipment, the technical side, and many more details. We are in negotiations with foreign exporters, who expect to receive from Solari competitive products made with Georgian raw materials.

Q. What are some recent developments at the company?
A. I would call them “challenges” rather than “developments”.
The import of raw materials from Ukraine was interrupted due to well-known events. The company was completely reset, returning to the Russian market. The export of raw materials from Russia has brought a number of difficulties recently, because the Russian government imposed a high export tax on sunflowers - 50% instead of ~6.5%. Basically, logistics have become much more difficult and time-consuming. However, with the team work and common efforts of the company, we have gradually overcome these problems and the supply is currently experiencing no delays .