"We want to make this place a centre of excellence"

The Turkish biotechnology company Monrol is investing an estimated 30 million euros in Cologne and is building a 4,500 square metre production facility in Cologne-Immendorf. More than 100 employees will develop pharmaceutical products for cancer therapy, among other things. Aydin Kücük, Managing Director of Monrol, gave us an exclusive interview.

What is Monrol and what does it stand for?

Monrol operates in the field of nuclear medicine. We produce radiopharmaceuticals for targeted cancer therapy. Radiopharmaceuticals are radioactive drugs that target and kill cancer cells without harming surrounding tissue. We distribute these cancer treatment drugs to 60 countries worldwide, and we are investing in Cologne to manufacture these drugs.

What were the main reasons for choosing Cologne as Monrol's European headquarters?

Due to the specific characteristics of our drugs, logistics was a critical factor - we need to be able to deliver our products quickly. We wanted to be able to reach at least 50 percent of the European population in eight hours or less. That's possible in Cologne. The city is in the heart of Europe and has an excellent infrastructure, with three airports nearby. So we calculated that Cologne was the best location.

Another factor was the skilled workforce. There are very good universities in and around Cologne, and we want to take advantage of that. We want to attract this strong workforce to our company.

We are also a multinational company - eight languages are spoken in our company. So a multicultural city like Cologne is a great environment for us.

But the most important thing was the approachability of the authorities. In Cologne we have found a warm and predictable environment. What I mean by that is that as an investor you have a lot of questions, and thanks to KölnBusiness all our questions were answered not only in a very timely manner, but also in detail and with supporting data. This enabled us to assess the opportunities and risks and successfully plan our project.

What are your plans for the Cologne site over the next few years?

First of all, we need to complete the plant. Cologne will be our third and largest plant in Europe. Our plan is to be operational in 2026. Once the plant is up and running, we want to ship our products from Cologne to many places around the world.

In the meantime, we want to move a lot of research and development to Cologne and build an innovation hub here. We want to make this a centre of excellence. We also plan to establish collaborations with industry and the universities in Cologne.  These collaborations offer great opportunities for growth and innovation for the benefit of our patients.

The interview was held during our net.works welcoming event for international companies and startups which recently settled in Cologne. Learn more about the event here.