Interview with: Chris Harrison, Managing Director, Fresenius Kabi

Fresenius Kabi (FK) is Europe’s leading healthcare company in the field of clinical nutrition and infusion therapy, offering a range of products and services for the hospital environment and at home.

Chris Harrison has been with the company for five years, starting out as Finance Director. A trained Chartered Accountant, Chris has been Managing Director for over a year.

APN: Where is Fresenius Kabi based and how big is its workforce?
CH: Fresenius Kabi UK is based in Cheshire, and is a subsidiary of the long-established parent company Fresenius AG. Fresenius Kabi was formed in 1998 following the merger of the pharma division of Fresenius Ltd with the parenteral nutrition business of Pharmacia and Upjohn Ltd.

The headquarters of Fresenius AG are in Germany, and the organisation has more than 92,000 employees worldwide. Twelve thousand of these operate for FK in over 30 countries, and we have subsidiaries and distributors in Europe, America, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific (which includes India and the Far East, down to Australasia).

APN: The company has quite a history. Can you tell us about some of its milestones.
CH: The Fresenius Group dates back to 1462 when the Hirsh Pharmacy opened in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. In 1912 Dr Eduard Fresenius founded the pharmaceutical company Dr E Fresenius. Else Kröner took over the company in 1952, and it was under her influence that the foundations of today’s business were built.

In the 1960’s, Fresenius started to sell dialysers and associated equipment, and in the early 1970’s Fresenius made a breakthrough by synthesising amino acids. This led to big advances in parenteral nutrition.

Two significant and strategic acquisitions transformed the company into a global company with dominant positions in its major market sectors. First, in 1995, Fresenius acquired NMC, a large chain of dialysis clinics centred mainly in the US and North America. This acquisition triggered the formation of Fresenius Medical Care. The second acquisition was of Pharmacia and Upjohn’s nutritional business in 1998. When brought together with the already existing nutritional/pharmaceutical business, this led to the formation of Fresenius Kabi.

APN: What is Fresenius Kabi’s objective?
CH: Our company’s philosophy “Caring for Life” aims to improve the lives of critically and chronically ill patients worldwide. This is not simply through the products we manufacture and distribute, but also through the services we provide.

APN: How is the company committed to quality?
CH: I am proud that Fresenius Kabi UK received ISO9001 accreditation in 2006. Receiving this accreditation was a key objective for our company this year to demonstrate to our customers and suppliers that the quality service we provide is not just an internal belief but is built into everything we do.

We are also ISO14001 accredited, which means that we conform to this Environmental standard and we are committed to investing in manufacturing environmentally-safe materials, such as our non-PVC bags called freeflex®.

APN: Do you work with anaesthetists in the development of your products?
CH: In recent years we have introduced several changes to our labelling in collaboration with anaesthetists, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), and the National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA). This has been in order to visually differentiate certain groups of products from others. The epidural bags we provide as part of our Specials Service now include a yellow flashing, which clearly indicates that the product is for epidural use only. This Specials Service is where we can provide customer specific, sterile preparations in a range of presentations to suit users’ needs.

APN: Are there any recent developments in the clinical community that you are involved in?
CH: In the last few years the clinical community developed the “Fast-Track Concept” which is a novel treatment pathway that improves patient care after surgery. The Fast-Track Concept involves every part of the perioperative care protocol, and represents a multimodal approach to increase recovery. Fresenius Kabi offers a wide range of the products and services to support our customers in integrating the Fast-Track Concept. The algorithm includes optimised management of anaesthesia, and intravenous anaesthesia with Fresenius Propoven to minimise the incidence of post-operative nausea and vomiting.

APN: Why do you find your job rewarding?
CH: The most rewarding part of my job is working with a great team of people who passionately believe in our Caring for Life philosophy and the products and service that underpin it. Our business is quite complex and covers many different therapy areas but it is our combination of great customer relations, excellent products and services and a really committed team of people that makes every day enjoyable.

APN: ... And finally, how is Fresenius Kabi looking to expand in the future?
CH: We acquired Labesfal in March 2005, which has its headquarters in Central Portugal and offers intravenously administered drugs (I.V. drugs). This acquisition will significantly expand the I.V. drugs portfolio of Fresenius Kabi. In addition, we acquired Clinico GmbH at the end of 2005, which enables us to have the capacity to offer medical devices for the application of infusions and nutrition. This interlinked product portfolio ensures our customers will receive a high-quality, comprehensive product range from one source.

To contact the Fresenius Kabi team, call 01928 594200.