Sustainability Report 2013 Lek d.d.

Company Profile Sustainability Report 2013 – Lek d.d. 16 Dr Zdenko âasar (left) and Dr Gaj Stavber (right) attending the national recog- nition for innovation ceremony Leadership excellence Prestigious national award for business achievement Vojmir Urlep, President of the Board of Management of Lek, a Sandoz company, is the winner of the Chamber of Com- merce and Industry of Slovenia (CCIS) award for outstanding business achievement in 2012 among large companies. The CCIS awards are the oldest and most prestigious awards of their kind in Slovenia and highlight the important correlation between the leading manager and the company itself that becomes written into the history of the Slovenian economy. As the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia pointed out, Lek, a Sandoz company, under the leadership of the company’s President Vojmir Urlep became the leading Sandoz development center and increased production at all Slovenian sites. Of particular note is that he focused on tech- nologically demanding processes and opened new job posi- tions. Over the past ten years following Novartis’s acquisition of Lek , investment in development and expansion of produc- tion amounted to over 1.3 billion Euros. Lek, a Sandoz mem- ber, has its own development team of 550 experts, of whom more than 170 hold a doctorate in science, and is constantly working together with Slovenian research institutes and facul- ties. Within Novartis and Sandoz, Lek, a Sandoz company, has acquired status demonstrating its high development and production competencies. Vojmir Urlep dedicated his acknowl- edgement to all associates and stressed that Lek, a Sandoz company, is today the leading development center of the second largest global supplier of high-quality and affordable generics. Investment in knowledge is reflected in an average of 20 patent applications every year and over 1,200 patent rights obtained around the world. Research achievements Discovery of high applicable value Sandoz/Lek researchers Dr Zdenko âasar and Dr Gaj Stavber were the first in the world to discover a catalytic system for asymmetric borylation of organic compounds in water medium. For this high-profile scientific discovery, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia (CCIS) honoured them with the Gold Innovation Award for the best innovation at the national level. They discovered and developed a considerably more effici- ent, economical and above all more environmentally friendly catalytic system, which can be very successfully applied in the key step of alternative synthesis of the active pharmaceutical ingredient for the treatment of type II diabetes, currently affec- ting more than 400 million people worldwide. Such sustaina- ble innovations can therefore be an important contribution to the welfare of both the environment and society through more accessible and safer pharmaceutical ingredients and medici- nes, which is also a part of Sandoz’s mission. By doing this they opened an entirely new perspective on greener and more sustainable technologies in organic chemistry. Upon receiving this recognition, Dr âasar and Dr Stavber high- lighted the quality of projects and complexity of issues that Lek/Sandoz researchers face. The discovery of asymmetric ß-borylation of organic molecules in a pure water medium is an innovation with high applicable value. The catalytic method for asymmetric borylation of organic compounds has until now been carried out in hazardous, toxic and expensive organic compounds. As explained, organic molecules, reagents and catalysts are usually not very compatible with water. Thus, it was necessary to develop a catalyst system which is compa- tible with water and at the same time allows the desired trans- formation in an asymmetrical mode. Their novel solution is based on the use of copper in a +2 oxidation state and can be applied in industry. The active ingredient obtained by this method is also purer than it has been up to now. Patients de- serve effective active pharmaceutical ingredients, safe target active ingredients and finished dosage forms, stressed both researchers whose achievement reinforced Sandoz’s poli- cies. The innovation was successfully granted international patent protection, and the findings were presented in a distin- guished international scientific journal for applied chemistry. A detailed interview with the winners is also available on the portal MMC website: http://www.rtvslo.si/uspesna- slovenija/nase-znanje-je-ustvarilo-novo-znanje-kar-je- bistvo-napredka/334527 . Vojmir Urlep, President of the Board of Management, with associates upon receiving the award for outstanding achievement