GM PHARMA Continues Investing in Manufacturing Capabilities and New Product Development
GM PHARMA – the leading and only international pharmaceutical company originating from Georgia – proudly celebrates its 25th anniversary, marking a quarter century of continuous progress, remarkable achievements and bold aspirations for the future.
GM PHARMA’s manufacturing plant in Tbilisi is a leading pharmaceutical facility in the South Caucasus and the only plant in Georgia operating a full technological cycle for the production of solid dosage forms. This comprehensive pharmaceutical cycle covers the entire process—from raw material sourcing to final product release—and includes raw materials testing, dispensing, blending, granulation, tableting, capsule filling, blistering, packaging, and quality control of finished dosage forms.
Over the past two years, GM PHARMA has invested approximately $5 million in cutting-edge pharmaceutical manufacturing and laboratory technologies – reinforcing its commitment to innovation, quality, and growth. These investments include the acquisition of advanced equipment such as the IMA Adapta 100 capsuling machine, Hermetica 100 capsule sealing system, Gerteis Minipactor dry granulator, and Bohle’s IBC blender, all designed to enhance production efficiency and product consistency. Most recently, the company has made a significant €1 million investment aimed at enhancing its analytical capabilities and advancing research and development (R&D) of new medicines. This includes the expansion of the existing analytical development and the establishment of a new chemical-instrumental analysis laboratory that meets modern international standards. In total, the company has added 14 state-of-the-art chromatographic instruments, including Ultra-Performance Liquid Chromatography (UPLC) and High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) systems. These chromatographic systems were acquired by GM PHARMA from Waters Corporation, a global leader in analytical technologies. Waters instruments are widely adopted by leading pharmaceutical companies worldwide.
Both instruments are critically important for the analysis of pharmaceutical products. UPLC and HPLC are used for the qualitative and quantitative determination of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), excipients, and impurities – both in raw materials and in finished dosage forms. UPLC is an advanced version of HPLC, offering faster analysis, higher precision, and minimal sample volume requirements – significantly simplifying and accelerating the quality control process.
Alongside the technical upgrade, GM PHARMA has implemented Empower – Waters’ centralized software platform used for managing chromatographic data and analytical outputs. Empower has earned such a high level of trust that it is used by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in its own laboratories for pharmaceutical quality control. Notably, GM PHARMA was the first company in Caucasus Region to implement Empower – a modern, centralized software platform for chromatographic data processing. The system significantly simplifies the development of analytical methods and the transfer of method-related information within the quality control laboratory.
“The investment made in cutting-edge analytical technologies is not merely a technical upgrade – it reflects our commitment to continuous progress, a better future for all and the pursuit of leadership in pharmaceutical advancement”, said Levan Vardushvili, CEO of GM PHARMA. He further explained, “The pharmaceutical industry is driven by innovation and innovation is not a choice, but an essential requirement. Like everything in life, medicines have a life cycle: they enter the pharmaceutical market, doctors and patients begin to use them, their relevance gradually increases, reaches its peak and maturity and eventually declines as they lose relevance due to newer medications, updated clinical guidelines, or evolving physician and market demands. This natural cycle compels us to constantly think about innovation. Therefore, in order to remain competitive and more importantly, to meet the evolving needs of doctors, patients and healthcare systems, the development of new generic formulations is essential”.
GM PHARMA is deeply committed to innovation, having established a robust R&D and product development strategy. With 18 active research projects and over 30 new initiatives planned for 2025, the company continues to drive forward-thinking growth. The aforementioned cutting-edge UPLC and HPLC systems will accelerate analytical development and ensure faster, more reliable and comprehensive data processing throughout the process of developing new medicines.
The team at GM PHARMA has successfully completed specialized Empower training led by a certified engineer from Waters. The training was designed to ensure the comprehensive adoption of recent technology and full utilization of the software’s capabilities. The training encompassed both theoretical instruction on the Empower software and hands-on skill development. It was undertaken by staff from the Analytical Development and Quality Control laboratories, ensuring the optimal and efficient utilization of the newly implemented technologies.
Barış Örgün, Waters’ Training and Software Support Manager and lead engineer of the program, emphasized: “The Empower software platform plays a critical role in the development of new medicines. It enables centralized management of all chromatographic systems, ensures fast and reliable data processing and integrity and supports automated workflows that minimize mistakes resulting from manual processes and enhance overall efficiency”. According to him: “The implementation of Empower enables integrated, secure and transparent data management, which facilitates effective compliance with the high standards required for quality control and regulatory expectations. It also contributes to the optimization of time and resources, while enhancing communication and collaboration among laboratory teams”.
This state-of-the-art technological upgrade is expected to significantly strengthen the drug research and development processes at GM PHARMA’s Analytical Development Laboratory in the near future. As a result, new pharmaceutical products will reach the market more rapidly in Georgia and across all export countries where GM PHARMA operates, providing healthcare professionals and their patients with enhanced solutions for addressing medical challenges.
GM PHARMA – Serving those who need it most!