The main goal of this master's thesis is to estimate a value of company PHOENIX lékárenský velkoobchod a.s. the largest pharmaceutical distributor in the Czech Republic as of 31st January of 2014. Information regarding the value of the company is utilized by the management of the company. First part of this thesis serves as theoretical summary of used analytical technics. The second and the most important part of this thesis focuses on estimation of the value of the company, to analyse its position on the czech market, to analyze its financial health and to prepare actual financial plan. The primary method used for evaluation of the company is free cash flow to the firm. In order to present suitable comparison, Economic Value Added method is used as well.

The doctrine of intellectual property is based on the assumption that the exclusivity to commercialize a novel product granted to an inventor creates incentives to conduct research. In some areas, however, intellectual property can constitute a barrier to development of social welfare. In the area of access to medicines in developing countries, the intellectual property-related problem can take two forms. When needed products are not being developed and thus do not exist, lack of availability occurs. Lack of accessibility, on the other hand, arises when necessary medicines do exist, but their prices are prohibitive for people from resource-poor countries. Based on a detailed analysis of the patent and trade environment in the pharmaceutical sector, the thesis examines the potential of patent pooling as a joint intellectual property management strategy to increase access to medicines within the existing international intellectual property system. Particularly, it analyzes the effects of an existing pharmaceutical pool, the Medicines Patent Pool, on accessibility of antiretroviral medicines in low and middle income countries.

This thesis deals with the descriptive analysis of entire process of the pharmaceutical industry's distribution and the verification of its effective functioning in the Czech Republic. The first part is focused on the definition of key terms and presents the theoretical basis for this thesis (specifics of pharma industry, history of pharmaceutics and pharma industry, actual situation and predictions of pharma industry). The second part is concerned the individual subjects of the distribution - pharmaceutical company, wholesaler and pharmacy.

Diploma thesis is focused on specifications in pharmaceutical business. It is based on knowledge of pharmacy and economy and their synthesis is describing the most significant differences in pharmacy business and other markets. Overall goal of diploma thesis was to create overview about pharmaceutical industry, its progress, trends and behavior of companies to this high risk and volatile market with keeping the rules and norms of Czech and European authorities. Target was also to form group of recommendations for companies participated in this market. To keep this target I described in the first part of diploma thesis basic terminology and theoretical knowledge about pharmaceutical market including research and development, marketing and sales and pharmakovigilance. Practical part was based on case studies specifying the most common and difficult problems and steps leading to their solutions. My personal contribution in diploma thesis is based on detailed and professional handling of the topic and in the choice of parametres which influence the most timing and capital demands of R&D projects in pharmacy and mitigation of their negative aspects.

The Graphic Journalism genre is emerging with influences from war reportage with authors like Joe Sacco. I would like to address and report the “War on Drugs” from small first hand experiences, personal connections, and a genuine deep desire to see the healthcare and justice system change. The war on Drugs started in the 1970s during Richard Nixon’s term in the U.S. Presidency. Nixon’s influence to launch the “War on Drugs'' campaign began shortly after two congressmen released a report on the growing heroin epidemic that affected hundreds to thousands of servicemen who fought in the Vietnam War, who used heroin to treat PTSD. Nixon launched unfair disconnected political policy and passed laws that disproportionately targeted those against him and his values (minorities, specifically African Americans and anyone belonging to the counterculture “subwhite”). The War on Drugs movement started as a way to outcast and control minorities through unrealistic and systemically racist and oppressive laws. As the movement evolved so did its focus, the War on Drugs eventually metamorphosed into the “War on Class”, or a war against the economically disadvantaged. The War on Drugs has done way more harm than good and immediate action needs to be taken to begin to restart drug policy in America and within the World. The incomparable Billie Holiday, world renowned jazz singer and creator of “Strange Fruit” once said “I need help. Not jail time.” Shortly after her arrest for heroin possession in 1947. In my opinion, these famous words that Billie Holiday shared during the day of her arrest should be the leading quote in the much needed movement against the criminalization of drug abuse victims. Not only does the War on Drugs disproportionately disenfranchise black and brown communities, it makes researching the benefits of any type of narcotic that was not fully understood nearly impossible. My goal is to reverse the taboos that currently exist throughout our society with a graphic novel/ zine aimed at high school students. I believe that future generations can benefit from natural hallucinogens and other forms of holistic medicines in a safe way that doesn’t involve them having to access illegal avenues of receiving narcotics in order to remedy their pain. Afterall, there is a far greater risk in taking street narcotics due to one’s ability to use an incorrect dosage according to their size and bodily chemistry which can ultimately lead to an overdose and street narcotics may include an unknown amount of ingredients, some of which include fentanyl, a synthetic product of prohibition that is cheaper than heroin, but far more powerful. Fentanyl is used pharmacologically in anesthesia and neuroleptanalgesia and can be extremely harmful to the mind and body. I believe extremely deadly drugs like fentanyl would never exist if it wasn’t for the War on Drugs and its consistent agenda to demonize the usage of all narcotics without exploring the benefits of holistic medicines like hallucinogens and regulating the usage of these medicines through legalization, supervision, FDA regulation, and accessibility within the U.S, Healthcare System.

Bakgrund och problem: Läkemedelsbranschen är en bransch som präglas av såväl höga framtagningskostnader som en påtagligt lång utvecklingsfas av läkemedel. Branschen står vidare inför en rad krav och regleringar från myndigheter som bland annat ger upphov till ett komplext prissättningssystem. Tidigare forskning visar att kostnader ofta utgör en central del i prissättningen och att olika prissättningsstrategier bör användas över produktens livscykel. Studier visar även hur en produktportfölj bör sättas samman och hur prissättningen bör tas i beaktning. Gemensamt för dessa är dock att de inte har studerat företag som har höga kostnader för forskning och utveckling och som står inför en rad myndighetsregleringar samt hur det som studerats förhåller sig till strategi, vilket således motiverar denna studie. Syfte: Syftet med studien är att analysera vilka prissättningsstrategier forskande läkemedelsbolag använder vid prissättning av läkemedel utifrån ett strategiskt perspektiv där företagets produktportfölj och produkternas livscykel tas i beaktning. Studien ämnar att bidra med såväl praktisk som teoretisk kunskap genom att studiens resultat dels kan fungera som en modell som illustrerar hur interna och externa faktorer påverkar varandra och inverkar på strategiska val i läkemedelsbolags prissättningsprocess, dels genom att kunskapen om prissättning av läkemedel breddas. Metod: Studien är en kvalitativ intervjustudie som baseras på empiriskt material som insamlats genom semistrukturerade intervjuer med respondenter från sju läkemedelsföretag. Slutsats: Studien visar att det föreligger ett samband mellan läkemedelsföretags strategi, portföljval, prissättning och produktlivscykel. De genomgående största faktorerna bakom läkemedelsföretagens resonemang för vilket pris som sätts på läkemedel beror på läkemedelstypen, konkurrenssituationen på marknaden, läkemedlets kostnadseffektivitet och samhällets betalningsvilja. Vidare har det svenska systemet för prissättning av läkemedel en avgörande betydelse för både hur företagen resonerar och för vilka prissättningsstrategier som används. Vilken prissättningsstrategi som tillämpas beror på vilken typ av läkemedel som avses. För generiska läkemedel anammar företagen genomgående en konkurrensbaserad strategi medan för originalläkemedel dominerar en värdebaserad prissättning, med få inslag av en lönsamhetsdriven prissättningsstrategi. / Background and problem discussion: The pharmaceutical industry is an industry that is characterized by high costs for research and development as well as a significantly long development phase of pharmaceuticals. In addition, the industry is faced with a number of requirements and regulations from authorities which, among other things, give rise to a complex pricing system. Previous research shows that costs are often a central part of pricing and that different pricing strategies should be used over the product life cycle. Studies also show how a product portfolio should be created and how pricing should be taken into consideration. Common to these studies are that they have neither studied companies that have high costs for research and development as well as are facing a number of government regulations, nor how the studies relate to strategy, which motivates this study. Purpose: The purpose of the study is to analyze which pricing strategies that are used by companies in the research-based pharmaceutical industry from a strategic perspective where the company's product portfolio and the products' life cycle are taken into account. The study aims to contribute with both practical and theoretical knowledge by making the study's results partly as a model that illustrates how internal and external factors affect each other and have an influence on strategic choices in the pharmaceutical companies' pricing process, and partly by broadening the knowledge of pricing of pharmaceuticals. Methodology: The study is a qualitative interview study based on empirical material collected through semi-structured interviews with respondents from seven pharmaceutical companies. Conclusion: The study shows that there is a connection between the pharmaceutical companies' strategy, portfolio selection, pricing and product life cycle. The main factors that is concerned in the pharmaceutical companies' reasoning behind the determined price depends on whether it is a generic or original pharmaceutical, the competitive situation, the cost effectiveness of the pharmaceutical and the willingness of society to pay. Furthermore, the Swedish system for pricing pharmaceuticals has a crucial importance for both how the companies reason and for which pricing strategies that are used. Which pricing strategy that is applied depends on the type of pharmaceutical being concerned. For generic pharmaceuticals companies consistently embrace a competitive strategy while for original pharmaceuticals value-based pricing dominates, with few elements of a profit-driven pricing strategy.

This thesis is concerned with assessing the involvement of the pharmaceutical industry with the United States' health system. We will consider the role that the industry plays in the greater system, and how its activities influence the environment around it. This is done through a case study, in the context of the United States experiencing a so-called "opioid epidemic." This crisis is a serious problem for the health system, and society as a whole, which predominantly involves prescription pharmaceuticals. We will undertake an examination of the pharmaceutical industry's relationship with that crisis through a strong reliance on critical discourse analysis, rooted in systems theory. Despite being a critical component in the American health system, and the one directly responsible for the creation of pharmaceuticals, we will see that the industry is predominantly treated as an ally in addressing the opioid epidemic, rather than complicit in its emergence. This indicates that the industry successfully influences the discourse surrounding its role and responsibilities as a component of the health system. Keywords Pharmaceutical industry, lobbying, healthcare, PhRMA, health system, opioid, prescription drugs

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Detta är en rapport som syftar till att kartlägga kvalificerade leverantörer till Aqua‐Nova AB. Företagets organisation är liten och består av fem anställda. Det är därför en utmaning att sälja nya projekt, övervaka tillverkning och vårda kundrelationer och samtidigt bedriva utvecklingsprojekt. Arbetet är baserat på tekniska rapporter som erhållits av Aqua‐Nova. Rapporterna utreder en möjlig optimering av destillationsprocessen med ejektorteknik. Målet med rapporten var att kartlägga kvalificerade leverantörer av ejektorer till Aqua‐Nova. Det ingående målet med rapporten var att besvara de fyra detaljerade målen som formulerades. Vilka fördelar respektive nackdelar skapas av att införa en ejektor i systemet? Vilka kundfördelar ger en ejektor? Vilka krav ställs på tekniken för att fungera tillsammans med Aqua‐Novas nuvarande system? Vilka krav ställs på leverantörerna vad gäller kompetens, leveransförmåga och pris? Genom Googlesökningar, undersökning av Achema industrimässa samt genom intervju hittades elva leverantörer som uppfyllde kravspecifikationen. Med Pugh‐ och Kesselring‐matriser utfördes en sållningsprocess i två steg. Det brittiska företaget Transvac Systems Ltd. fick högst poäng i båda sållningarna och anses således var den mest kvalificerade leverantören. Sållningsprocessen kompletterades med en konkurrentanalys, en riskanalys samt intervju för att besvara de detaljerade målen. Konkurrentanalysen utreder för‐ och nackdelar med utvecklingsprojektet och visar att Aqua‐Nova kan öka sina marknadsandelar genom differentiering av produkten. Fokus bör läggas på de marknader där kylvatten är en bristvara och de företag som lider av platsbrist. Kundfördelarna blir en mer miljövänlig och lönsam produkt. Riskanalysen svarar på om det föreligger en risk att implementera ny teknik i Aqua‐Novas system. Baserat på resultatet är risken, att ejektortekniken ska orsaka driftstörningar, minimal. Intervjun visar att en leverantör måste kunna leverera skräddarsydda ejektorer samt hur ejektorn bör utformas för att fungera i Aqua‐Novas system. Det slutgiltiga resultatet anses trovärdigt eftersom sållningsprocessen utfördes i två steg. Risk‐ och konkurrentanalysen ger en bild över de utmaningar företaget kan möta i och med utvecklingsprojektet. Arbetet bör kompletteras med en kostnadsanalys samt att en testanläggning utvecklas för att garantera lönsamhet och en funktionsduglig produkt. / This is a report that aims to map qualified suppliers to Aqua‐Nova. The company's organization is small and consists of five employees. It is therefore a challenge to sell new projects, monitor production and care for customer relations and at the same time conduct development projects. The work is based on a technical report obtained by Aqua‐Nova. The report investigates a possible optimization of the distillation process using ejector technology. The purpose of this thesis was to investigate the most suitable subcontractor of ejectors for Aqua‐Nova. The purpose was to also answer the four detailed objectives. What advantages and disadvantages are created by introducing an ejector into the system? What customer benefits does an ejector provide? What requirements are placed on the technology to work together with Aqua‐Nova's current system? What requirements are placed on suppliers in terms of competence, delivery ability and price? Through Google searches, examination of Achema industrial fair and through interviews, eleven suppliers were found who met the requirements specification. With Pugh and Kesselring matrices, a two‐step screening process was performed. The British company Transvac Systems Ltd. got the highest score in both screenings and is thus considered the most suitable supplier.  The screening process was supplemented by a competition analysis, a risk analysis and an interview to answer the detailed objectives. The competition analysis aims to investigate the pros and cons of the development project and shows that Aqua‐Nova can increase its market share by differentiating the product. The focus should be on the markets where cooling water is a scarce commodity and the companies that suffer from space shortages. The customer benefits become a more environmentally friendly and profitable product. The risk analysis shows whether there is a risk of implementing new technology in Aqua‐Nova's system. Based on the result, the risk of the ejector causing a downtime is minimal. The interview shows that a supplier must be able to deliver tailor‐made ejectors and how the ejector should be designed to work in the Aqua‐Nova system. The result can be considered credible since the screening process was performed in two steps. The risk and competition analysis give a representation of the challenges the company can face with the development project. The result ought to be supplemented by a cost analysis and developing of a test facility to ensure profitability and a functional product.

The product R1-MR2E is an ester formed from an esterification of a carboxylic acid and an alcohol at Cambrex Karlskoga AB. The production of the intermediate R1-MR2E is a large-scale production and there are two main objectives and two sub-objectives that this project aims to study of the manufacturing.The manufacturing of R1-MR2E experience big variations in the product yield which is affecting theproductions stability and economic aspects of it. Thus, one of the main objectives in this project was to use experimental design to find significant factors that causes yield variations. The results from this study showed five significant factors that affect the yield positively or negatively by resulting in higher or lower product weight. The factors found are the amount of charged toluene solution containing the by-product R1-DR2E from the recycling system, the amount of charged carboxylic acid, the reaction time, the amount of added Na2SO3 in the neutralisation step and the regulated pH value after the crystallisation step. The other main objective is to optimize the purification sub-section using activated carbon (AC). There are two sub-objectives for this part of the study where the first sub-objective is to evaluate how much activated carbon that is needed to remove the impurities and colouration in the product. The second sub-objective is to investigate if an activated carbon filter could be used as a substitute for the commonly used loose powder activated carbon. To answer this objective a laboratory method was used, where the large-scale purification- and crystallisation step as well as after treatment were scaled down to lab scaleand then experiments were conducted to determine the effects of different amounts of activated carbon, using no carbon, and utilizing another type of activated carbon known as activated carbon filters. The results were then analysed for colour and purity by a visual observation method and High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) method. The conclusion from this study is that only 25% of the amount of activated carbon used today is needed to remove the colouration in the product. The activated carbon did not completely remove the impurities in the product. The other conclusion was that the idea that the activated carbon removed the small impurities was wrong, and the levels of the impurities are already small enough in the large-scale production that the purification step is not needed to reach approved levels of these impurities. The activated carbon filter also works to remove the colouration with only one filtration but does not work well on removing the impurities in the product. / Produkten R1-MR2E är en ester som formas med en förestring av en karboxylsyra och en alkohol på Cambrex Karlskoga AB. Produktionen av intermediet R1-MR2E är en storskalig produktion och det finns två huvudmål och två delmål som studeras i studien. Produktionen av R1-MR2E upplever stora variationer i produktsutbytet vilket påverkar produktionensstabilitet och ekonomiska aspekter. Ett av målen med detta projekt är därmed att använda experimentell design för att hitta signifikanta faktorer som orsakar utbytesvariationer. Resultatet från den här studien visar på fem faktorer som påverkar utbytet positivt eller negativt genom att bidra till högre eller lägre utpackad vikt. Faktorerna som hittades är mängden av den satsade R1-DR2E från återvinningssystemet, mängden av den satsade karboxylsyran, reaktionstiden, mängden av den adderade Na2SO3 under neutralisation steget och de reglerade pH efter kristallisations steget. Det andra målet är att optimera ett av produktionens delsteg, rening med aktivt kol (AC). Det finns två delmål för den delen av studien, de två delmålen är att ta reda på hur mycket aktivt kol som behövs för att ta bort föroreningar och förbättra färgen i produkten samt undersöka om aktivt kolfilter kan användas som ett substitut för det vanligen använda lösa aktiva kolpulver. För att genomföra det här målet så användes en laborativ metod, där det storskaliga renings- och kristallisationssteget samt efterbehandling skalades ner till laborativ skala. Sedan genomomfördes experiment för att bestämma effekten av olika mängder aktivt kol, inget aktivt kol, och använda en annan typ av aktivt kol i formen av ett aktivtkolfilter. Resultaten från det laborativa arbetet analyserades sedan med en visuell metod samt högpresterande vätskekromatografisk (HPLC) metod. Slutsatsen från studien är att bara en 25% av den mängd aktivt kol som används i dagens läge behövs för att ta bort färgen i produkten. Det aktiva kolet tog dock inte bort föroreningarna i produkten speciellt bra. Det betyder att idén om att det aktiva kolet tar bort föroreningar är fel och att nivåerna av föroreningarna redan är tillräckligt låga i den storskaligaproduktionen för att bli godkända i koncentration utan reningssteget. AC filter fungerar också för att ta bort färgen med endast en filtrering men fungerar inte att använda för att ta bort föroreningarna i produkten.