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Our History

Our History

Always seeking
for Cure

Our History

Beginning of '50s,the pharmacist Nikolaos Varelas, builds the company N.D. VARELAS S.A., having as its aim the distribution and marketing of medications. The company quickly developed into one of the largest wholesaler pharmaceutical companies of Greece.

A few years later, the son of Nikolaos Varelas, Denis, also a pharmacist, takes over the management of the company. In 1974, Denis Varelas together with his close associate and good friend Basile Tamvacas, pharmacist as well, starts a new company,which would exclusively deal with the manufacturing and marketing of original pharmaceutical products.This company, GALENICA, is the first Greek company focusing on licensing agreements with research based international companies regarding the transfer of pharmaceutical know how to Greece. In the same year, the innovative manufacturing facility of GALENICA's pharmaceutical products is being built, a privately owned plant in the area of Chalkis, where development and manufacturing of licensed products as well as its own would soon take place.

At the same time, N.D. VARELAS S.A. specifies its activities, focusing exclusively on the distribution of products for laboratory diagnostic tests, and soon it establishes a leading position in this market segment in Greece.

In 1992 in the light of the great growth potential which characterized the market of over-the-counter pharmaceutical products (Ο.Τ.C. , Consumer HealthCare), GALENICA incorporates OLVOS SCIENCE, a rapidly growing and dynamic company,with a pure commercial orientation in the market of pharmaceuticals.

In 1993, Ν.D. VARELAS S.A. is renamed to VARELAS S.A. Chemicals and Diagnostics, a name that reflects its activities more adequately.
 

In 1995, the business scheme, which consists of the companies GALENICA, OLVOS SCIENCE and VARELAS S.A., becomes even stronger when VARELAS S.A. acquires the majority stake of TECH-LINE, a company which operates with great success in the marketing and distribution of chromatography chemicals and consumables to quality control laboratories.

In 1999, GALENICA starts to expand outside Greece with the view of seizing any business opportunities in the developing markets of the Balkan countries. GALENICA enters into Romania initially with the acquisition and take over of the management of the denationalized pharmaceutical industry SICOMED, which was at that time the leading company in the pharmaceutical market of Romania. From then on, a strong presence of GALENICA at this emerging market is being built.

On the 12th of January of 2008, Denis Varelas passes away. Nicholas Varelas, becomes the new CEO of GALENICA, while Basile Tamvakas remains the Chairman of the company. The dynamic growth is being continued successfully with the contribution of all the people working in the companies.

Beginning of 2009, GALENICA, OLVOS SCIENCE, VARELAS S.A. and TECH-LINE, relocate their offices from the centre of Athens to Kifissia, in a privately-owned, modern building complex covering a total area of 10.000 sq.m.

In 2011, Galenica, appreciating the rapid developments in the pharmaceutical sector in our country, entered into a strategic synergy with the Greek pharmaceutical company Minerva S.A., achieving a dynamic partnership of Greek companies.