Resident in the spotlight | TFLL Pharma

CT Pharma | TFLL Pharma Custom | Food Supplements

ID-KIT, who is Serhan Simsek? 

Serhan Simsek

• Master’s in molecular biology
• PhD in pharmaceutical biotechnology
• Turkish expat in Belgium

Companies:

• CT Pharma
• TFLL Pharma
• Custom Food Supplements

Expertise:

• Development of generic pharmaceutical production

_________________________________________________

“Flanders leads innovation within the pharmaceutical industry”.

Serhan Simsek was bitten by the ‘pharma bug’ during his studies. His biology background instituted a fondness for innovation. “I live for challenges, new products and developments. BioVille is therefore the perfect hub for our company. I consider it lucky that we ended up here.”

Biologist Serhan Simsek started his career in 1996. He began working in the industry while still in college. “I simultaneously had an academic and professional career. Which gave me the unique opportunity to see the missing links between these two worlds.”

Until 2012, Serhan worked in R&D departments of domestic (Turkish) and international pharmaceutical companies. That year he also started his own company ‘CT pharma’. The goal: to offer contract development to companies without in-house development departments. Today, CT Pharma looks back at an impressive track record, having developed over 200 projects for dozens of companies.

In 2017, TFLL Pharma was born. A CT Pharma subsidiary that does sales & marketing for their products. And in 2015, Serkan launched a new product: ‘Custom’ Food Supplements.

STEPPING OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE

To say Serhan likes a challenge is an understatement. “I could have stayed in Turkey, run my business there, and that would have been quite comfortable. But I chose to push myself out of my comfort zone, to new countries, cultures, and businesses. Our ambition extends beyond Turkey. So we established TFLL in Europe, more specifically in Flanders, at the Bioville site.”

As it turns out, ending up in Belgium was no fluke. Belgium is a significant location for food supplements and their registration process. “Food supplements differ in registration from medication in the EU. And it’s safe to assume that if they’re approved in Belgium, they’ll be approved everywhere based on that application because of the high standards in place.”

Serhan summarizes, “Belgium is, therefore, an ideal place for our European branch. More so, Flanders, in particular, is at the forefront of innovation in the pharmaceutical industry. We are happy to be part of this ecosystem”.

THE PERFECT HUB

Why choose BioVille, though? Serhan: “I ran my company in Turkey at a similar site: a ‘govermental technology park’. So I am familiar with the corporate-incubator system. The employees here are very helpful; they help us find opportunities. It makes Bioville the perfect hub for us. I consider it lucky that we ended up here.”

In the short term, Serhan wants to make additional moves with TFLL, such as launching the Custom food supplements onto the Belgian market, setting up a production site, and combining these products to establish wellness and health tourism in Flanders. “In the long term, we would like to expand into China.” ends Serhan.