EstLat Alliance in Drug Development

Programme 2021 - 2027 Interreg VI-A Estonia-Latvia

Date of latest update: 2026-04-13

Description

Description (EN):

Drug discovery and development is a time-consuming, extremely expensive and high-risk process with specific need for highly-qualified personnel. The high initial investments costs and years of building up the partner/client network act as restrictions in this field as well. That´s why in such small countries like Estonia and Latvia, there are only limited players on the market. The common challenge is to find enough resources (financial as well as qualified and skilled workforce) to be competitive on the global scale. TBD is the only company that is developing active pharmaceutical ingredients and industrial fine chemicals in Estonia - both smart generics and originator APIs/innovative small molecules. LIOS, leading drug discovery and development center in the Baltics, has a long tradition in organic chemistry and developing pharmaceutical products. In the context of limited resources, it´s more than ever needed to work together and share the competencies. A tight collaboration between TBD and LIOS creates synergy of available know-how and infrastructure and increased capacity to carry out larger projects leads to increased attractiveness to potential clients. The direct aim of the project is the joint development of a new product - cost-effective synthesis and manufacturing technology for Varenicline Tartrate in compliance with pharma legislation and Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) guidelines. The main beneficiary will be TBD, who´s product portfolio it would complement. The general aim is to act as a model case for future cooperation – joint RnD between LIOS and TBD. As the company grows, TBD needs a reliable partner in RnD to build up a balanced product portfolio and to improve competitiveness. As a public sector research institute LIOS is interested in knowledge sharing and offering it´s expertise to industry sector thereby expanding the value chain of their own services. This aim is one of the main topics in LIOS Development Strategy for 2022- 2027.

Actual Achievements (EN):

The Pharmaboost project brought together TBD Pharmatech (Estonia) and the Latvian Institute of Organic Synthesis (Latvia) to jointly develop and validate an innovative, cost-effective, and sustainable production technology for Varenicline Tartrate – a key active pharmaceutical ingredient used in smoking cessation medicines. This collaboration combined LIOS’s expertise in synthetic chemistry and analytical method development with TBD’s capabilities in scale-up, manufacturing, and quality assurance. Over the course of the project, the partners designed and optimised a robust synthetic route, implemented advanced impurity control measures (including prevention of N-nitrosamine formation), established crystallisation and polymorph control, and successfully manufactured three validation batches. The process was validated, stability studies were initiated, and chapters of Active Substance Master File (ASMF) were compiled for future regulatory submission.

Project outputs: The production technology of Varenicline Tartrate (EN)
Joint pilot actions to develop the production technology for Varenicline Tartrate(EN)
Organisations cooperating across borders(EN)

Thematic information

Scientific cooperation New products and services

Priority: (VI-A_EE-Lv_2) Jointly and smartly growing businesses

Priority specific objective: RSO1.3. Enhancing sustainable growth and competitiveness of SMEs and job creation in SMEs, including by productive investments

Priority policy objective (Interreg specific objective): PO1 A more competitive and smarter Europe by promoting innovative and smart economic transformation and regional ICT connectivity

Type of intervention: 027 Innovation processes in SMEs (process, organisational, marketing, co-creation, user and demand driven innovation)

Partners (2)

Lead Partner: OÜ TBD Pharmatech

Partner’s ID if not PIC: EE101057350

Address: Tiigi, 50410 Tartu, Estonia

Legal status: private

Organisation type: SME

Website: https://tbdpharmatech.com/

Total budget: EUR 466 856.25

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 373 485.00

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 80.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 93 371.25

GBER schemes / de minimis: GBER Article 20

Latvijas Organiskās sintēzes institūts

Name: Latvijas Organiskās sintēzes institūts

Partner’s ID if not PIC: LV90002111653

Address: Aizkraukles street, LV-1006 Riga, Latvia

Legal status: public

Organisation type: National public authority

Website: http://www.osi.lv

Total budget: EUR 115 580.00

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 92 464.00

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 80.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 23 116.00

GBER schemes / de minimis: GBER Article 20

Contractors:

Name: SIA "DOMA"
VAT registration or tax identification number: 40003003704
Name: RELAKEM, SIA
VAT registration or tax identification number: LV40003275600

Partners map

Partners and Projects info

Latvian Institute of Organic Synthesis

EstLat Alliance in Drug Development

Partners and Projects info

TBD Pharmatech Ltd.

EstLat Alliance in Drug Development

Lead partner

Project partner

Summary

Project name (EN): EstLat Alliance in Drug Development

Project acronym: PharmaBoost

Project ID: EE-LV00007

Project start date: 2023-09-01

Project end date: 2025-04-30

Project status: closed

Relevant linked projects:

There are no results of any projects or initiatives this project could make use of. The most useful and important information is the publicly available patent and market information concerning Varenicline Tartrate. (EN) | The CEO of TBD, Dr. Andrus Tasa, has also been a partner and CEO of Tartu Biotechnology Park since 2002. Tartu Biotechnology Park is a private organization, which provides physical infrastructure and business development services for clients, mainly biotech companies. It also supports companies in finding local and international cooperation partners. From 1995 to 2002 he held various management positions in the University of Tartu, including Head of the Department of RnD. He has participated in different committees and councils (RnD and Innovation policy) at university and governmental level (innovation advisory board for the Estonian Ministry of Economic Affairs etc.).
Dr. chem. Osvalds Pugovics, has been the deputy director since 2004 and director since 2014 in LIOS. He is responsible for analytical chemistry services at LIOS, but also for establishing new partnerships, incl. with industry partners.
Based on this diverse experience and ability to see the situation from multiple perspectives (RnD institute and SME), there is a good faith from both partners to build up a synergy of resources, a best practice for a mutually beneficial partnership. (EN)

Relevant mentions and prizes:

Total budget/expenditure: EUR 582 436.25

Total EU funding (amount): EUR 465 949.00

Total EU funding (co-financing rate): 80.00%

Co-financing sources:

ERDF: Amount, EUR 465 949.00. Co-financing rate, 80.00%.

Investments, deliverables, policy contributions

(bullets are inserted automatically and may be incorrectly placed)

Deliverables:

Innovative production technology of Varenicline Tartrate

Contribution to wider strategies and policies:

EUStrategyBalticSeaRegion The strategy has three key objectives and the current project is contributing to the third objective: "Increase prosperity, which focuses on creating growth and improving competitiveness through
more cooperation in R&D, stronger partnerships and completing the single market" that leads to improved global competitiveness of the Baltic Sea region.
The direct aim of the project is the joint development of a new sustainable production technology for Varenicline Tartrate (smoking cessation drug). The project will result in regular manufacturing and sales of Varenicline Tartrate to pharmaceutical companies in EU, USA, Korea and Japan, targeting therefore people aiming on stopping their smoking habit and thus helping strengthen health of many persons. This will result in economical benefits for the manufacturer who is also Estonian tax-payer and employer (75 high-paid well-educated employees at the moment), but also in immense health benefit for Estonians, Latvians and population of neighboring region interested in smoking cessation.
The long-term aim of the project is to figure out the best collaboration model between TBD as a SME from Estonia and LIOS as a RnD organisation from Latvia to build up a synergy of resources and to increase the competitiveness of both project partners. The synergic partnership will then seek for cooperation with pharmaceutical and biotech companies, focused on the development and production of innovative drugs for clinical studies and smart generics with improved efficiency. This will bring economical benefit not only to the project partners but also to similar research and manufacturing organizations taking LIOS and TBD as an example. As the Baltic Sea Region will be in the focus of big pharma seeking for CDMO services, this will definitely help all the pharmaceutical manufacturers in their development and economical growth.
Other Strategy "Estonia 2035" - the goal of the strategy is a strong, innovative and knowledge-based and responsible economy. One of the measures to monitor the achievement of the goal is the amount of private sector research and development expenses, and resource productivity.
The long-term aim of the project, as well as long-term strategies of TBD and LIOS are in full compliance with the strategy "Estonia 2035".
TBD is a knowledge-based enterprise, providing pharma and biotech worldwide with development and manufacturing services. Due to the rapid growth during the last years , TBD plans to built a new development and production facility with area of 5,000 m2 already in 2025-2026. Alongside the production expansion, also the proportion of RnD must increase to assure the company´s financial stability through creation of a diverse and balanced product portfolio and to improve competitiveness. There is a lack of qualified and experienced experts in drug development sector in Estonia and as a result of a successful implementation of the project the RnD team of LIOS will complement the RnD activities of TBD. Without the support of LIOS the rush increase of RnD expenses and deep focus on the development of modern innovative medicines would not be possible. On the contrary, a synergic and knowledge-based partnership between TBD and LIOS will result in attracting new customers from both big pharma and biotech segments. As a results, new development projects will be funded by financially stable big pharma partners. First it will be the alliance between TBD and LIOS which will benefit economically, but later other drug development/biotech companies in Latvia and Estonia will flourish from this cooperation.
Other "Development plan for research and development, innovation and entrepreneurship 2021–2035" (in Estonia) - according to the development plan, the joint development until the year 2035 places a significantly stronger focus than before on increasing the influence of science and researchers and using research results in cooperation with business to solve Estonia's development needs. To achieve this, various support measures have been developed, the purpose of which is to contribute to the growth of the knowledge intensity of the Estonian economy on the one hand, and to help increase the capacity of research institutions to carry out applied research and product development projects necessary for business, on the other.
The project contributes to the growth of RnD based and high added value business (TBD) as well as to creation of a service platform for start-ups and entrepreneurial researchers in Estonia and in Latvia.
The general aim of the project is in full compliance with this strategy. As a result of the project, a synergic alliance between LIOS and TBD will be formed. TBD has broad business network and plan to attract more customers from big pharma and successful biotech, but also small innovative start-ups, who all will benefit from top-notch efficient service in the drug development. LIOS and TBD together can offer wide spectrum of services starting from the very early development of drug candidate to the production of first batches for clinical trials and finally commercial production of active pharmaceutical ingredients. This will definitely have a very positive impact on the whole pharmaceutical sector in both Estonia and Latvia.
Other Smart Specialization Strategy of Latvia, direction 3 “Sectors with a significant horizontal impact on and contribution to the transformation of the economy”, priority 6 “Knowledge base (bioeconomy; biomedical, medical technology, biopharmacy and biotechnology; intelligent materials, technologies and engineering systems; smart energy, ICT)” and specialization area 2 “Biomedicine, medical technologies, biopharmacy and biotechnologies“. The strategy emphasizes that more has to be done to complete the transition towards a knowledge-economy, and research centres of excellence should have a crucial role here.
LIOS has integrated this approach into its programming master plan "LIOS Strategy for 2022-2027". The cooperation with industry is the first step of implementing the goals of the plan in practice, and TBD is a great partner because of similar mindset and its location as well. At the moment LIOS has a number of researchers with world-class expertise, outstanding infrastructure for scientific investigation but scarce possibilities for bringing the research results directly into industrial applications. The natural alliance with TBD, which is mostly focused on the manufacturing of pharmaceutical ingredients, will help LIOS to increase its contribution in the pharmaceutical sector and development of innovative, targeted medicines. TBD can also help LIOS with establishing new business contacts through its wide network of partners in EU, USA, Korea and Israel. Only together TBD and LIOS can form the synergic partnership where each partner skills and knowledge will complement another. The development of both new drugs and smart generics, where efficiency is improved in comparison to original medicines, will be the core and main focus of this partnership. The result will have a definite positive impact on the knowledge-based economy in Latvia and whole region.

Deliverable (other than infrastructural investment) areas:

, Tartu, Tiigi, 61b, 50410
Latvija (LV), Riga, Aizkraukles street, 21, LV-1006
, Tartu, Tiigi, 61b, 50410

Programme Common Output Indicator:

RCO 084 - Pilot actions developed jointly and implemented in projects, Measurement unit:
RCO 116 - Jointly developed solutions, Measurement unit:
RCO 087 - Organisations cooperating across borders, Measurement unit:

Delivered output indicator(s):

(RCO116) Jointly developed solutions: 1.0
(RCO84) Pilot actions developed jointly and implemented in projects : 1.0
(RCO87) Organisations cooperating across borders: 2.0

Programme Common Result Indicator:

RCR 084 - Organisations cooperating across borders after project completion, Measurement unit:
RCR 104 - Solutions taken up or up-scaled by organisations, Measurement unit:

Delivered result indicator(s):

(RCR84) Organisations cooperating across borders after project completion: 2.0

Project part of European Union Macro-Regional or Sea Basin Strategy: EUSBSR

EUSBSR Priority (Policy) area / Horizontal action:

EUSBSR Degree of compliance:

Information regarding the data in keep.eu on the programme financing this project

Financing programme

2021 - 2027 Interreg VI-A Estonia-Latvia

Latest month of project-partner-call data publication

2026-04

No. of projects in keep.eu / Total no. of projects (% of projects in keep.eu)

66 / 66 (100%)

No. of project partnerships in keep.eu / Total no. of project partnerships (% of project partnerships in keep.eu)

284 / 284 (100%)

Notes on the data

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EstLat Alliance in Drug Development

Description

Thematic information

Partners (2)

Partners map

Summary

Investments, deliverables, policy contributions

Information regarding the data in keep.eu on the programme financing this project

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