(Press release): Actavis Group, the international generic pharmaceuticals company, today announced plans to expand its manufacturing site in Iceland, increasing capacity at the site by 50%. Fifty new jobs will be created as a result. Read the full story

With a population 58 million Italy is the fourth largest European pharmaceutical market enteread by Actavis. The Italian pharmaceutical generics market has expanded at double-digit rates in recent years with company branded generic products especially showing significant growth recently.

Actavis’ Third party sales division, Medis, entered the Italian market in 2004, marketing its products through other pharmaceutical companies. Medis is currently selling 13 products into Italy, and a few major patent expiry launches are coming up at the end of the year, including Ramipril and Ramipril HCT (cardiovascular).

Svend Andersen, Executive Vice President, WEMEA, said: “Actavis has the scale to support a price conscious Italian market and more importantly the high quality products that Italians require. We expect to launch 74 products next year and will support it by full infrastructure and sales force.”