DEMO SA pharmaceutical industry welcomed 2016 with wishes for a productive new year. The event for the celebration of the New Year, which took place at the company’s premises in Kryoneri, Attika, was attended by 750 DEMO employees, as well as representatives of the municipality where the company is situated.

While making a review of the past year, Mr. Stavros Demos, President of DEMO S.A., stated that he’s absolutely satisfied of the company’s progress and thanked all employees for their contribution to this success: “2015 was a special year for us, not only because we completed 50 years since our establishment, but also because we faced with great success the difficulties we encountered with the valuable contribution of our employees, who surpassed all expectations”.

During his speech, Mr. Dimitris Demos, Vice President of DEMO S.A., thanked the 50 departments of the company, while making a special reference to the Quality Assurance Department that followed detailed procedures, which helped DEMO to pass successfully all strict approval tests for the authorization of medicines’ release in new markets globally. “Our sales in the domestic market were kept at a high level, similar to what we achieved in 2014, but the dynamics of our exports made a difference, as the turnover of our exports increased from €27 million in 2014 to €38.5 million in 2015″, Mr. Demos added. “The Greek pharmaceutical industry has to work in a very difficult environment, as there is no comprehensive medicines policy in Greece. During the past years, the Government focused only on the pricing policy, while only during 2015 the Greek pharmaceutical companies had to pay around €630 million in clawback and rebate”, Mr. Demos stated.

The company’s goals for 2016 are:

  • Development of new products through an enhanced R&D department.
  • Penetration in new markets globally through an intense process of extroversion and further development of existing markets by offering additional
  • Further vertical integration and automation of the production process and volume increase in order to lower production

However, the company’s most important goal is the completion of the investment that has been under way since last year and which unfortunately has been delayed due to the extreme delay of public hospital payments and the increase of their debts. This fact inevitably delayed not only DEMO’s growth plans, but also the respective plans of other companies in the pharmaceutical sector.

DEMO showed its social responsibility in 2015 by scoring higher on the environmental indexes, through an extensive recycling program, by supporting cultural activities, such as the “Pablo Picasso – Jean Cocteau, the innovations of Modernism” art exhibition, and athletes like the Greek Fencing Champion, Savvas Kavadias and the Paralympian Champion, Makis Kalaras, while also supporting actively the refugees that face extreme difficulties on the Aegean islands.

DEMO efforts and successful business course received important recognition and awards by “Greek Exports Awards”, “Made in Greece” and “Kouros 2015”, which gave the company’s management and employees an extra incentive to set even higher goals for 2016.