Can you give an overview of the establishment of Hasbiotech and how the company has evolved over the years?  

The company falls under the umbrella of the DEMIRYAKA HOLDING and is the youngest and most dynamic firm within this group. DEMIRYAKA HOLDING was founded in 1989  in order to manufacture steel cables, and provides services to numerous sectors today including energy, construction, furniture and automotive. The Group decided to enter the medicine sector and Hasbiotech was then established.

Focusing on special fields, the company mainly focused on unmet medical needs in the medicine sector.  We have set our target on creating an original Turkish medicine which will be manufactured at our site as well, and we are also working to establish a manufacturing site for bringing the technical know-how to Turkey for manufacturing biotechnological products and export these novel medicines to the global market. .

We differentiate ourselves in the market through our vision and mission. The Turkish industry is derived from generic business and recently focused on biosimilar medicine. Hasbiotech is different in this sense, because our prime business is on innovative development and R&D projects. We aim to become a worldwide-renowned company with current biotechnological treatment options, which increase the quality of life for patients. Our product portfolio, projects and strategic partnerships are all strictly following this objective.

Can you give insights into Hasbiotech’s product portfolio and capabilities in the biotech space?

We have a blockbuster product  that has been in the Turkish market since 2012. HEBERPROT-P contains human epidermal growth factor which is produced by recombinant DNA technology. When directly injected into the wound, this growth factor ensures healing of deep and serious diabetic foot ulcers that are induced by diabetes and may usually lead to amputation of the foot. It has gained an important place among the treatments of diabetic foot ulcers and those addressing the prevention of diabetes-induced foot amputation. HEBERPROT-P provides a fast, safe and effective wound healing process and has significantly reduced the rates of foot amputation caused by diabetes-induced foot ulcers in 26 countries where the product is already registered. We are also currently working on a new product assumed to be life saver and reducer of the complications of strokes.  

Another cooperation is with Argentina for a therapeutic vaccine used in oncology.  

What are Hasbiotech’s objectives and vision for the next five years?

We will continue to follow up on opportunities around the world and will be looking for projects where we can collaborate. We are also evaluating other areas of specialization and aim to be one step ahead of the industry.

The entire DEMIRYAKA HOLDING has the aim to expand our know how within the medicine area. We are collaborating with Cuba to enable the transfer of knowledge and technological advances. We want to foster and encourage innovation within the medicine sector in Turkey. Hasbiotech is very open for collaboration on biotechnology products and our aim is to build a healthier future by entering into a cooperative development stage on biotech products which will also lead us into a lucrative business model. In our search for innovative treatment options to be brought to use both in Turkey and abroad, we wish to establish business collaborations and joint studies (in-licensing, out-licensing and co-development).