In the past year, the Slovenian pharmaceutical company Krka has been looking to lure potential investors from Western Europe. Specifically, the company has been looking for investors from Great Britain, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland and Austria, the business daily Finance reported. Indeed, a number of foreign investors reacted positively to this initiative and bought some of Krka's shares. However, the foreign shareholding is still negligible in the entire ownership of this Slovenian drug producer.
One key question in this regard: Does Krka meet the Western standards. In this relation, it should be mentioned that the Slovenian firm was linked in the past to several troubling issues.
First, in 2001, the Helsinki Committee's office for legal assistance was addressed by 22 employees of Krka in Belgrade, Novi Sad and Nis. The lawsuit ragarded paying severance payments to employees.
Meanwhile last month, the Bosnia-Herzegovina Drug Research Institute established that non-steroidal anti-inflammatory tablets produced by Krka did not pass the standard test of its active ingredient. Thus, it demanded to remove the drug from shelves. On its part, Krka said the drug has been analyzed in accordance with the standard quality specification.
Late last year, an international commission, which conducted a probe into the UN Oil for Food Program in Iraq, has cleared Krka from irregularities and bribery payments. The probe centered on Krka's US$15.6 million Contracts for the sale of antibiotic Gentamycin.
Krka was also involved in a patent lawsuit, however the Ljubljana District Court rejected the lawsuit by US pharmaceutical giant Merck over the drug Simvastatin.
Proceedings also continued in the case of Warner Lambert and Pfizer's lawsuit
against Krka over alleged violations of patent rights for two forms of Atorvastatin, a cholesterol lowering medication.
