Antibiotice Iași secures €67M loan to build new drug factories
What's the deal? Antibiotice Iași, Romania's largest listed pharmaceutical producer, has borrowed €67M from Banca Transilvania to fund two major manufacturing projects. The money will expand production of sterile medicines for hospitals and build a new research centre alongside a factory for critical drugs — products with no therapeutic alternatives whose shortage would seriously harm patients.
"This financing consolidates Antibiotice Iași's capacity to accelerate strategic investments and support long-term growth objectives, both in Romania and internationally," said Ioan Nani, the company's chief executive.
Why now? The investment aligns with EU efforts to reduce dependence on external pharmaceutical supply chains. One project is already co-financed by the European Investment Bank through the InvestEU programme and receives grants from Romania's finance ministry. The second — the INOVA a+ research centre and critical-drug production unit — is partly funded through the EU's Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform, with grants channelled via Romania's ministry of investments and European projects.
Romania is using these EU mechanisms to pursue what Brussels calls "strategic autonomy" in healthcare — making essential medicines closer to home rather than relying on imports from Asia.
What could go wrong? Antibiotice's finances are under pressure. It ended 2025 with a preliminary gross profit of 60.1 million lei — down 42% year on year — after total costs rose 6% to 627.1 million lei while revenues slipped 1% to 687.2 million lei. Taking on €67M in debt while margins are shrinking is a gamble that the new capacity will generate returns fast enough to service it.
The company's shares have also lost 12% so far in 2026, giving it a market capitalisation of 1.45 billion lei. Romania's health ministry holds 53% of shares, and investment fund Infinity Capital Investments owns 10.8%.
The signal: This deal reflects a broader European push to reshore pharmaceutical manufacturing, particularly for critical and sterile medicines that became painfully scarce during the pandemic. State-backed companies like Antibiotice — majority-owned by a government ministry — are natural vehicles for such strategic bets, blending industrial policy with public health goals. The layered financing structure, mixing commercial bank debt with EU grants and development bank funds, is a template likely to be replicated across the bloc as Brussels doubles down on supply-chain sovereignty.
Read more: zf.ro
