At the press conference on March 8, 2018, STADA CEO Dr. Claudio Albrecht presented his vision for STADA and the Company's new strategy. In this interview he explains the three pillars of STADA's business model, the future markets and how STADA can become a learning company.

Today, you presented STADA’s new business strategy. What are the most important pillars STADA will build on in the upcoming years?

STADA’s business will be made up of three pillars. They are OTC products, Generics, and specialty drugs (including biosimilars) – especially in the fields oncology, diabetes, ophthalmology, and diseases of the central nervous system (CNS). That means we are building on our existing strengths and will use the expertise we have gathered in those fields to grow stronger in existing markets and to geographically expand our scope of business. In order to be more successful, we will also have to become more focused and more aggressive in our efforts.
Especially in Germany, STADA is rooted in a strong generics business. What role does this business area play in STADA’s future?

Generics will always play an important role in our plans – however, the approach will have to change slightly. Our goal is to be more selective in the choice of products we will try to replicate, but once we have made our decision, we will take a much more aggressive approach when it comes to optimizing our time to market. “First in, last out” has to be our motto, also in the field of biosimilars.

STADA also wants to expand into new markets. Can you name a few?

One region that will become very important to us is the Middle East. It has more than half a billion inhabitants we have only reached marginally so far. The Far East has also been on our roadmap for quite some time now. However, it will get even more attention in the future. In addition, we will also be working on closing gaps in developed markets. Take Great Britain, for example, where we want to build a strong generics presence in addition to our strong OTC and specialties businesses. Until now, Germany is the only market in which we are already performing strongly in all three pillars of our business model.

In addition to growth in terms of geographic expansion and introducing new products, savings are of course a priority STADA’s strategy for the near future. Can you give an example?

Procurement is an area with a lot of potential for savings. Here, we have already taken a first very important step by renegotiating the 2018 prices with incumbent suppliers. We will continue by bundling our suppliers and portfolios. And this is only one example out of many. Within the STADA Group, there are still a lot of synergies just waiting to be generated.

What effect does the STADA umbrella brand have – which will be globally represented by the addition “STADA Group” to each logo of a STADA subsidiary?

First of all, the addition reflects unity – internally, as well as externally. The latter, of course, meaning that STADA’s global footprint will become more visible to our various target groups. More customers, doctors, and decision makers will become aware of STADA and realize we are operating on an international level. Thereby we will gain more trust in our products and services. With a strong umbrella brand, it will also be easier to launch new products.

You talked about STADA being visionary a few times. In a nutshell, what vision do you have for STADA as a company?

I envision STADA to be a truly international player, being successful in the fields of OTC products as well as generics and specialty pharma. We have the potential – it is only a matter of making the most of the opportunities by working together more closely as a group and becoming more agile in the way we go about our business.