Biofarm lost about 50 percent of its value, after it decided to invest some €11.3 million in listed companies, mostly financial investment companies (SIF), a move considered by EFG Eurobank Securities analysts to have been “neither profitable nor suitable, because the SIFs are the company’s major shareholders, which could lead to a conflict of interest.”

The Biofarm drug maker posted turnover worth €4.6 mln in the first quarter of 2008, 16.3 percent higher year-on-year. Antibiotice Iasi, the last state-owned pharmaceutical company, reported turnover in Q1 2008 up 16.4 percent.