Xellia Pharmaceuticals (‘Xellia’), a specialty pharmaceutical company focusing on providing important anti-infective treatments against serious and often life-threatening bacterial and fungal infections, has significantly expanded its Product and Innovation R&D team with more than 15 new scientists and added approx.1,000 m2 of new lab space at its purpose-built Centre of Excellence in Zagreb, Croatia.
Xellia’s portfolio includes both difficult to develop and manufacture fermentation-based Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) as well as sterile Finished Dosage Forms (FDFs). Many of these anti-infectives are of last resort and therefore play a vital role in tackling resistant microbes, often when all other treatments have failed.
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the world’s most serious threats to human health. There is a very real need for new treatment options. The Zagreb innovation team is dedicated to finding these solutions, from improving the efficacy, safety and delivery of existing anti-infectives, and reducing toxic side effects, to developing novel drug-device combination antimicrobial therapies. The team is also working to support the discovery and formulation of new chemical entities effective against resistant microbes, with novel modes of action.
Carl-Åke Carlsson, CEO, Xellia said: “While generic anti-infective APIs and FDFs are, and will continue to be, a core backbone of Xellia’s business, our investment in the expansion of the Product and Innovation Centre of Excellence highlights our commitment to developing a more balanced portfolio of more innovative and proprietary anti-infective products. The investment is timely in the wake of the escalating scale of the antimicrobial resistance crisis and even now we are starting to see steady progress in the form of an early stage pipeline of novel drug products and compounds.
Dr Aleksandar Danilovski, CSO and Vice President Global R&D, Xellia, and Managing Director of the Zagreb site said; “This recent expansion increases our total investment in innovation-driven R&D activities in Croatia to over 200 MHRK (over 30 MUSD) since the Centre was established in 2011. Xellia’s global R&D growth strategy is rooted in a culture of innovation with a deep understanding of the ever changing regulatory and business environment.
“With its strong pharmaceutical heritage, Zagreb has been the ideal site for establishing and then growing an expert, specialist team of around 100 scientists. Our team is dedicated to providing innovative solutions and developing differentiated anti-infective products, to tackle the increasing global healthcare problem of antimicrobial resistance.”
For more information, please contact:
Xellia Pharmaceuticals
Dr Aleksandar Danilovski, CSO and Vice President Global R&D
Tel: +385 98 321 346
Instinctif Partners (media relations)
Jen Lewis / Eileen Paul / Melanie Toyne-Sewell
Tel: +44 (0)1260 296 500
Email: xellia@instinctif.com