Looking into the future
Strategy
In June, Orion's Board of Directors confirmed that the strategic focus remains the same for 2011–2015. Orion's strategic aims are profitable growth and increased shareholder value, whilst keeping business risks under control.
Orion's strategic focus continues to be on:
- growth of business operations through a competitive product portfolio
- strengthening market position in Europe
- improving the flexibility and efficiency of operations
- development of partnerships and collaboration networks
All of Orion's business divisions have a major role in achieving the financial objectives of the Group, but the two largest divisions, Proprietary Products and Specialty Products, are crucial. Orion strives to enhance synergies between patent-protected proprietary drugs, off-patent (i.e. generic) prescription drugs and self-care products. The Animal Health, Fermion and Orion Diagnostica divisions are also actively seeking new growth opportunities.
Competitive product portfolio
Growth is based on a competitive product portfolio developed through Orion's in-house R&D, collaborative research and active product acquisition. Potential corporate acquisitions are also continually evaluated.
Orion's in-house R&D focuses on central nervous system drugs, oncology and critical care drugs and inhalable Easyhaler® pulmonary drugs. Orion invests in early-phase R&D jointly with universities and other pharmaceutical companies. In the late phase of clinical development, Orion aims to share the costs with other pharmaceutical companies. Orion generally seeks partnerships for undertaking at least Phase III clinical trials, which are the final phase, especially for projects outside Europe. Orion also seeks to purchase new early-phase product candidates and further developed products to reinforce the research pipeline based on its own research projects.
In recent years Orion has worked to build up a competitive product portfolio. As regards customers, the focus is on neurologists, urologists, pulmonary doctors, critical care doctors and other health care professionals in these specialised fields. Orion's primary aim is to exploit all business opportunities from the drugs in the current product portfolio, such as Stalevo®, Simdax® and the Easyhaler product family. Orion's next projects in late-phase development and commercialisation are launching the intensive care sedative dexmedetomidine in European markets, development of inhalable Easyhaler combined formulation products and development of the Parkinson's drug Stalevo for Japanese markets. Orion also aims to ensure continuity of clinical trials through active early-phase research.
To be successful in the generic (i.e. off-patent) prescription drug and self-care product sector, it is especially important to have a broad and continually renewed portfolio. Orion seeks to secure a continuous stream of product launches through active product acquisition and its own development work. Orion determines the product portfolios individually for each market. The Company continues to strive for growth, especially through expanding the self-care product portfolio in the Nordic countries. In Eastern Europe, for example in Russia, Orion's product portfolio focuses on generic prescription drugs in certain therapy areas.
Strengthening market position in Europe
In 2010 Orion expanded its own sales network to cover nearly all the key European markets. The objective is now to continue strengthening the market position in all these markets.
In specialised medical care, especially critical care and urology, Orion concentrates on certain customer groups through its own sales network throughout Europe and through partners worldwide. Orion markets generic prescription drugs and self-care products mainly in the Nordic countries and Eastern Europe through its own sales network. Orion is determined to remain the market leader in Finland and make the Scandinavian countries a domestic market in which it has a strong presence. Orion's aim in all the Nordic countries is to have a presence with a broad product range. In Central and Southern Europe the emphasis is on Proprietary Products and in Eastern Europe on Specialty Products. Outside Europe, Orion operates mainly with partners.
Flexible and efficient operations
Because the operating environment changes all the time, the agility and flexibility of operations will in the future be as crucial as a low-cost base. Efficiency improvement, cost control and diversity management are all essential for systematic improvement of competitiveness throughout the value chain. Orion's key projects to improve operating efficiency have been implementing a new research and development model, building up partnership models for early-phase research, increasing efficiency in the supply chain and improving the competitiveness of sales operations.
Networking and seeking partners throughout the value chain will facilitate improvements to competitiveness and establishing a foundation for profitable future growth. R&D collaboration and active networking will enable Orion to increase the number of new research projects and balance the risks of projects in the research pipeline. Through partnerships in the supply chain, Orion will improve the efficiency of its operations by determining which products it will manufacture itself and to what extent products or semi-finished products will be acquired from outside the Group. Partnerships in sales and marketing will ensure a broad network of distribution channels through which proprietary drugs developed by Orion will be distributed worldwide. Moreover, the product portfolio can be expanded by selling the partners' products through Orion's own sales network.
Through these strategic actions, Orion seeks to enhance its capability to continue operating as a pharmaceuticals and diagnostics company that provides new products and engages in R&D.
