Press Bits

In an industry as competitive, challenging and risky as the pharmaceutical business, Ferring Pharmaceuticals distinguishes itself from the rest by putting people ahead of profit.

Established against the backdrop of the Second World War, Dr Frederik Paulsen, fled from Germany as a student, eventually arriving in Sweden where he established Nordiska Hormon Laboratoriet in 1950. The company would later be known as Ferring with Dr Paulsen and wife Eva becoming the first scientists to synthesize peptides by producing adrenocorticotrophin hormone (ACTH), or stress hormone.

This discovery made the company a pioneer in developing and selling pharmaceutical products based upon natural, pituitary-produced peptide hormones.Choosing to remain under the radar of “big pharma” (referring to companies with revenue in excess of $3 billion, and/or research and development expenditure in excess of $500 million),

it was only in 1988, when Dr. Paulsen’s youngest son Frederik Paulsen, assumed the position as chief executive and led the company’s worldwide expansion.

Ferring first established a research group in San Diego in 1996, recognizing the vibrant opportunities in the region. Since establishing a presence in San Diego, Ferring has been able to assemble a world-class peptide research organization and establish collaborations with leading academic scientists.

The Ferring Research Institute moved to its new home in San Diego in February 2009 with the opening of a 38,000-square-foot facility in Sorrento Valley. The new state-of-the art facility research houses expanded research laboratories for peptide medicinal chemistry, biochemistry, bioanalytical, and pharmacology.

In recent years, Ferring has expanded beyond its traditional European base: with over 4,500 employees worldwide, it operates subsidiaries in 55 countries and makes its products available in more than 100 countries.

Now based from a global hub in Switzerland Ferring develops innovative products in the four therapy areas of reproductive health, urology, gastroenterology, endocrinology and orthopaedics. As a private, research-driven specialty biopharmaceutical company Ferring is committed to building a portfolio of novel, innovative peptide therapeutics to address areas of high unmet medical need..

Ferring's expertise

The World Health Organization estimates that there are about 60 to 80 million cases of infertility around the world.

As opportunities arise in their careers, more women are waiting longer to have children. Due to this trend in the delay of pregnancy until an older age, up to a quarter of all couples may experience problems in conceiving a child.

Treatment of infertility is one of Ferring's key areas of expertise and it is committed to progress in the field of Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART).

Ferring's female healthcare portfolio consists of traditional highly purified and standardized human-derived products at every stage of the reproductive cycle to ensure better maternal health and safe child birth. Clinical studies and years of use have shown that Ferring's hormonal therapies are effective and offer a good safety profile. Ferring looks to become the market leader in reproductive health care through its products for infertility and obstetrics. Ferring in the PH Now, Filipino couples who are having problems conceiving children need not go abroad, or

spend more on acquiring Ferring’s products as the Company opened its Philippine offices at the Ecotower building, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig.

The formal inauguration was graced by Michel Pettigrew, President and Chief Executive Officer who flew all the way from Switzerland together with other esteemed Ferring executives Ralph Diehl, trusted Consultant, Alex Chang, Senior Vice President for Asia Pacific, BingMei Hao, Regional Finance Controller, Jareen Yao, Associate Director of Business Excellence, and Ming Yip, Regional Senior Director for South East Asia.

They were formally welcomed by Ferring Philippines General Manager, Ms. Jane Villablanca together with industry partners and key opinion leaders from the various specialty medical societies.


The company’s philosophy is ‘People come first at Ferring’. “We live it every day of the week,” said Pettigrew. “We have a respect for all stakeholders – whether the patients, to ensure they get the care they deserve; the medical community or our employees. We expect our employees to take on a lot of responsibility – it’s a great place to work.”



It has been more than six decades, yet that same passion of Dr. Paulsen continues, as Ferring Pharmaceuticals proudly carries on a culture of enterprise driven by science, not profit..“We’re privately owned by one man who has a strong belief that science must advance, shared Pettigrew, his father’s vision still guides the company’s business today, and science remains at the heart of what it accomplishes.

For more information about Ferring, visit www.ferring.com

KakaoTalk, one of the leading mobile messengers in the world, has announced exciting product updates for its subscribers across the globe!  KakaoTalk is now available for Mac users worldwide and is now offering “Search Chat” – a brand new feature that will be available on the desktop client, KakaoTalk Windows.

Award-winning director Paul Haggis’ latest romantic thriller “Third Person” follows the journeys of three sets of couple at three different stages of a relationship set at the backdrop of Paris, Rome and New York.  The movie’s main character Michael, played by Liam Neeson, a novelist who’d been famous for his previous work has holed himself up in a hotel suite in Paris finishing his latest book.  Within the hotel works a maid named Julia, Mila Kunis’ character – an ex-soap opera actress who was once a frequent guest at the hotel.

             
Julia is caught in a custody battle for her 6-year old son with her ex-husband Rick played by James Franco, who is a famous New York artist.   With her support cut off and her legal costs ruinous, Julia’s lawyer Theresa (Maria Bello) has secured Julia one final chance to change the court’s mind and be reunited with the child she loves.     Julia’s sole motivation in life is to gain joint custody of her son but her fragile psychological state and the circumstances of her marriage break-up make that a big challenge.

A fan of the director’s works, Kunis had no qualms joining the cast, “I’ve been a fan of Paul’s work and he has a very specific way of writing so I didn’t necessarily know what to expect but I knew it was going to be intertwining storylines. I can honestly say that there are those movies that come along that they make you realize why you love doing what you do and working with Paul Haggis made me fall in love with my job again. I love it, I love every aspect of how he works, how he interacts, how, confident he is and how confident he makes you feel.   I think we just kind of get each other’s work ethic and work rhythm.   He trusts me and I trust him that’s just so incredibly important”.

“Given the complexity of the film, Julia is a hard character to explain,” says Kunis of her character.  “She’s slightly misunderstood but she means well.   Technically speaking, she’s in a custody battle with her ex-husband Rick for their child Jesse.  At heart, Julia’s a sweet person but she’s always late and if a person has to make a right or a left turn, she always makes the wrong choice, but it’s not on  purpose so you can’t blame her for it.  Maybe she just has the world’s worst luck, or maybe not.    She seems to be constantly put in situations where she’s just being attacked or accused of not being good enough.”

Kunis’ onscreen ex-hubby in the film, James Franco, Rick, pulls their son away from her mother.  “Rick is one of a number of characters who come in and out of the film and he’s an artist, a painter in New York and has a child with Mila Kunis’ character Julia. He and Julia have had a very rocky past and she seems to be emotionally unstable and irresponsible and maybe even dangerous towards Jesse, our child. So, I gain custody of Jesse and I prevent her from seeing him because I think she might hurt him. Paul writes very intricate characters.  I remember years ago he once told me that he likes to make himself the villain.  He likes to put himself into his characters,” Franco enthuses.

“Mila Kunis and I have done something like seven projects together, after working together so many times, there’s certainly a shorthand with Mila Kunis and I.    We just get along very well.      We’ve kind of done everything together - fantasy, comedy, drama, a weird vampire thing, an experimental movie, so I guess the only thing we haven’t done is maybe action, so we’re looking for a, an action script next!” concludes Franco.

“Third Person” opens June 18 in theatres nationwide from Axinite Digicinema.

Adrien Brody who won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of real-life Holocaust survivor Wladislaw Szpilman in Roman Polanski's “The Pianist” and he is, to date the youngest person to have received the Oscar in that category stars in the latest romantic thriller “Third Person” opposite an impressive cast that includes Liam Neeson, Kim Basinger, Moran Atias, James Franco, Mila Kunis and Olivia Wilde.
             
  “Third Person” spans three stories of love clothed in mystery where Brody plays Scott, a shady American businessman and reluctant globe- trotter, who is in Italy to steal designs from fashion houses.  At the end of his trip and looking for something American to eat, he goes in search of a decent hamburger and a Budweiser, and finds Bar Americano, where, to his consternation, he finds nothing he is seeking. He is about to leave when in walks Monika (Moran Atias), a breathtakingly beautiful gypsy.  Unable to stop from flirting, Scott discovers that Monika is about to be reunited with her young daughter. When the money she claims to have saved to  pay  her  daughter’s  smuggler  is  stolen,  Scott  feels  responsible  and  is compelled to  help.  Though she  is  skeptical  of  his  intentions, she  reluctantly agrees and quite literally takes him on a ride. While they explore the more dangerous corners of southern Italy, Scott starts to suspect that this girl they have set out to rescue may not even exist. Nothing about their encounter is quite what it seems.
“My character Scott Wallace is a man who’s made some errors in life and some mistakes are permanent and too difficult to overcome. I think he’s grappling with a lot as a result of that and he’s unable to forgive himself.  He encounters a very interesting, alluring young woman in Rome while on a business trip and he somehow needs that excitement she embodies but that too is a tumultuous chapter of his life.    At the same time, it pulls him away from the weight he’s been experiencing and is kind of unable to escape on his own”. .   It’s way more interesting to observe imperfections and people’s ability to get past those imperfections. That’s more inspirational than overly heroic characters,” explains Brody.


               
Further, Brody shares that “I strive to find material that is unusual and speaks to me and that’s either something with incredible social relevance or something that is a learning process for me as a human being, not just as an actor and that I can share. There’s a degree of that in this piece – the processing of emotions and the need to overcome certain things that prevent us from moving forward and being present.   Tragedy befalls many people’s lives and you have to surmount that, or it destroys any possibility of the future.    I also think that there are many flaws in all the characters in this film, they’re all really flawed human beings and I think film should celebrate flaws rather than create perfect people, because people are imperfect.”              
Atias, who plays the gypsy Monika, is an immigrant from Albania trying to scrape together a living on the fringes of a world where people like her are considered to be less than dirt – all con artists and criminals.  “Her character’s strongest motivation is simple – survival.  .  It’s not a question whether or not she wants to do certain things; she sees no other choice.  Hers is just a very basic need.   One key characteristic about her is that she doesn’t trust anybody and she has a really good reason not to trust anybody, especially men,” says Moran.
               
A model and an ambassador in worldwide disaster relief operations, Atias shares that “I’ve done a lot of research to play Monika, even on things that I knew were not going to ever be in the script, but I just wanted to explore the life of the gypsy in Italy..   I became so respectful of their courage and dignity and that force of life to continue.”
             
  “Third Person” opens June 18 in theaters nationwide from Axinite Digicinema.

TRUST. Five letters that spell the difference between succeeding and building the legacy of a company. Much like any kind of relationship, trust is something that is not so easily achieved, yet has become invaluable in today's rapidly changing landscape.