Ebenthal lab expands testing for medicines entering EU market

Nearly 90 percent of medicines used in the EU are produced outside Europe, and a laboratory in Ebenthal, Carinthia, tests products from abroad before they can be released onto the European market, ORF reports. Apis labor GmbH is the only company of its kind in Carinthia and one of only a few in Austria.

The laboratory analyses medicines and raw materials from countries including India, China, Argentina and Indonesia, checking their identity, purity and strength. Tablets may be ground up for chemical analysis. The process from production to EU market release takes about four to six months, while laboratory testing itself takes around two weeks.

Founded eight years ago by chemist Thomas Pfeifer and biologist Herwig Tiefenbacher in a converted car repair shop, the company now employs 16 people. Its current premises have become too small, and it is investing 2.5 million euros in a larger operation and a new high-tech laboratory.

The new facility, on Völkermarkter Straße in Klagenfurt, is due to be adapted by April next year, after which the laboratories will move in stages. The expansion is intended to add testing of vaccines and other medicines, including biologics, using microbiological and molecular biology techniques.