Vistin Pharma: sustainable production of high-quality Metformin

Diabetes is one of the most serious diseases of this century. By 2050, one in eight adults worldwide – about 853 million people – will be living with diabetes, an increase of 46 per cent over today’s figures. More than 90 per cent of these cases are type 2 diabetes, which over time can cause serious damage to the body, especially nerves and blood vessels.

Type 2 diabetes is often preventable. Moreover, it is possible to reduce the disease’s impact through preventive measures, early diagnosis and proper care, including the use of medications such as Metformin, which lowers high blood sugar levels.

Vistin Pharma is a pharmaceutical company producing Metformin Hydrochloride (HCI) in both API and DC forms. API stands for active pharmaceutical ingredient, the component in a drug that provides the desired therapeutic effect. It is also available in direct compression granules.

Vistin Pharma produces about 10 per cent of the world’s demand for Metformin HCI API. Based in Europe, the company has its dedicated plant in Norway that manufactures high-quality Metformin for global pharmaceutical companies, which market their diabetes medications in over 100 countries.

The company’s Metformin is synthesised and processed to supply the market with the purest API with the best free-flowing quality. The API has no detectable levels of nitrosamines and very low levels of residual DMA (Impurity F).

The company likely has the most eco-friendly and sustainable production of Metformin API in the world. As a general rule, production of Metformin is a high energy-consuming process, resulting in a large CO₂ footprint. Vistin Pharma, however, manufactures its products using 100 per cent renewable hydropower, and therefore the CO₂ equivalent from its energy consumption is substantially lower than industry averages.

In addition, the company has achieved 80 per cent recycling of fresh water consumption, 95 per cent less volatile organic compounds (VOC) to the air in the past five years, and zero waste discharge into water sources and the ocean.

The global market for Metformin is expected to grow at a pace with the increasing number of people living with diabetes. Vistin Pharma has been producing Metformin since 1969 (formerly as Weifa). The company recently implemented an expansion project that will enable it to reach a 15 per cent global market share.

Vistin Pharma has received authorisations from pharmaceutical authorities around the globe, from Norway and the US to Brazil, Japan and South Korea. It is seeking growth opportunities worldwide, especially in Asia and the Americas, where the prevalence of type 2 diabetes is increasing faster in low- and middle-income countries than in high-income countries.