Innovation, as a model for emerging from the crisis

2025-04-13 08:16:00, Aktualitet CNA

Heparin, a basic drug in the pharmaceutical market for blood thinning, is now being produced in Lezha.

A team of scientific researchers, who have been employed by the AZ Group company for months, have enabled the processing of pig intestines, whose mucus, after undergoing several chemical processes, serves as a raw material for the production of blood thinners.

The juices obtained from intestinal processing produce several other by-products, the most important of which is NutriVive AminoPlus, a natural organic bio-stimulant specifically for organic farming, which increases yields by at least 20% and significantly reduces the use of pesticides.

In parallel, animal feed and several other products serving the pharmaceutical industry are produced.

The company has entered a new investment phase this year, aiming to realize the entire production cycle of Heparin directly per ampoule.

Mr. Alban Zusi and his sons, Drini and Enio, who returned from higher studies in the field of business abroad, aim to take industrial production to another level, based on scientific research and implementing circular economy practices. The new products have already been patented, have passed the testing phases and are on the market.

Innovation, a way out of the crisis

The AZ Group company was going through a difficult period in 2023, when the fall of the Euro was bringing huge losses and emigration had shrunk the workforce.

For more than two decades, the Zusi family had set up a processing plant for animal offal, which serves as a raw material for sausage factories, with Austria as its main market. The Euro crisis presented the company with challenges in diversifying its activity.

A chance meeting at a trade fair with some researchers accelerated the plan to take the industry to the next level. Iliri, a chemistry professor with a PhD, returned from Italy to work at the AZ Group company.

A team of five researchers and chemists began work in the laboratory that was specially set up next to the factory. Now, the factory's two new plants produce three pharmaceutical products, Heparin, Bilurbin and Heparinoids, and many other by-products for animals and agriculture.

The scientific team intends to further expand the production base of by-products that serve the cosmetics industry. The remains of slaughtered animals, chickens that died from bird flu, after going through many processing cycles in plants, produce a series of valuable products on the market.

After many years of experience in the industry, Mr. Zusi has realized that investments in human resources bring a very high return. In just one year of work, the team of scientific researchers has developed the production of high-value products on the market, for which demand is growing and profits are guaranteed.

The transformation that came from innovation

Innovation has contributed to the growth of Albanian pharmaceutical exports. Last year, our country exported 1 billion lek (10 million euros) of pharmaceutical products, a 130% increase compared to 2022, mainly from new products from the AZ Group company.

With the weakening of the Euro and the reduction of the free labor force, Albanian industry needs to move to a higher level of the value chain to ensure continuity.

In the last two years, hundreds of small and medium-sized units producing clothing and footwear for export closed their activities, as they could not cope with the losses brought by the exchange rate and weakening foreign demand.

Many factories have explored new solutions to stay in the market. One of the largest shoe manufacturing operators, ProDyn, transferred production to luxury companies.

For almost two years, the company has been producing shoes for Prada and other high-end brands. Some companies have closed the loop and increased innovative investments in work cycles, cutting costs and increasing quality.

As a country very close to developed European markets, Albania has the opportunity to produce high-value goods. Mr. Zusi says the country has the potential to further develop industry, especially agro-industry, where agriculture is a sector with high potential for early organic production.

Most agricultural inputs are imported and are often unsafe, so there is great scope for domestic production in this area.

Production according to the circular economy model

The European Union is strongly supporting the new circular economy model, which turns waste into products, as opposed to the current linear model where resources are consumed, generating waste that is not used and creates pollution.

Until 2015, animal offal, mainly intestines throughout the country, was treated as waste in landfills, was a major pollutant and source of infection in urban areas, especially in Tirana. It was often thrown into bins along with other waste.

The INCA company, part of AZ Group, which supplies the domestic and foreign market with natural parts for sausage production, began collecting slaughterhouse waste, giving it economic value.

The general coordinator of AZ Group, Drini Zusi, said that in recent years there have been three companies that handle the processing of animal waste, where their final products are destined for various industries, ranging from pharmaceuticals to organic fertilizers for agriculture.

The first company, INCA (Industry of Natural Casings Albania), processes animal by-products intended for human consumption, such as natural casings, which are used as raw materials for the sausage industry.

The investment was completed in 2020, where all other by-products that cannot be used for human consumption or for pets are processed. Beyond by-products from the meat processing industry, the company also processes any type of waste from the fish or poultry processing industry.

Their processing in a closed cycle yields animal protein and fat, which are used as feed for the breeding industry, or as biodiesel in the hydrocarbon industry, said Zusi. Two of the companies part of INCA derive 100% of their income from waste processing.

The company was established as part of AZ Group's plans to expand its influence in the Balkan Region. AZ Group processes tons of animal by-products per year, in the process of which it has become one of the companies with the best environmental impact position.

AZ is the only company in Albania that fully applies the circular economy business model.

In the last year, AZ Pharma has successfully produced and patented three raw materials for the pharmaceutical industry.

The company has implemented production based entirely on the circular economy, also providing the necessary electricity for the factory from photovoltaic plants in the industrial park premises.

Fivefold increase in activity by 2030

By expanding production into high-value products in the pharmaceutical industry, AZ Group executives aim to fivefold revenue from the activity by 2030.

Innovation and investment in human capital will be at the heart of growth. The number of research employees will increase, as the aim is to further expand the base of pharmaceutical by-products, especially in the field of cosmetics.

The natural organic bio-stimulant NutriVive AminoPlus is the third product developed thanks to scientific research in the AZ Group laboratory, after two pharmaceutical products that are already exported to foreign markets.

Mr. Zusi says that scientific research to create innovative products and advanced solutions should be the focus of every Albanian industry, as a way to improve the quality of the products that Albanian society consumes, but also as a way to gain competitive advantages in world markets. Monitor.al