MPA Pharma GmbH

What MPA Pharma GmbH does

MPA Pharma GmbH is a privately held, family-owned pharmaceutical company headquartered in Trittau, Germany, with approximately 640 employees across the group. The company specializes in the re-import and parallel import of original branded medicines from 25 EU member states, where identical products are typically priced lower than in Germany, Austria, and Scandinavia. Imported medicines are relabeled into local languages and distributed through two wholly or majority-owned regional subsidiaries: EMRAmed Arzneimittel GmbH for the German and Austrian markets and Paranova Group A/S for the Scandinavian markets (Denmark, Sweden, Finland, and Norway). The product portfolio spans patented and non-patented medicines, generics, OTC products, controlled substances (BTM), and medical devices.

Manufacturing and packaging operations are concentrated at the Osterburg site in Saxony-Anhalt, which employs approximately 400 staff and operates under Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) and Good Distribution Practice (GDP) standards. Since February 2019, MPA Pharma has implemented the EU Falsification Directive (securPharm), applying 2D-code serialization and tamper-evident seals to all repackaged prescription medicines — a €2 million infrastructure investment. In addition to import trade, the company offers GMP-compliant contract manufacturing (Lohnherstellung) services including repackaging, relabeling, and custom packaging solutions for third-party pharmaceutical firms and medical device manufacturers.

MPA Pharma generates revenue primarily through transactional margins on re- and parallel-imported pharmaceuticals (approximately 90% of import volume is parallel imports), supplemented by contract manufacturing fees. The company sells B2B to public pharmacies and pharmaceutical wholesalers through its regional subsidiaries, with the German healthcare system alone realizing approximately €264 million in annual cost savings attributable to its parallel-import activity. Ownership and management rest with the Oltersdorf family (Dirk Oltersdorf as Managing Director, Hans Joachim Oltersdorf as Authorized Representative), with no disclosed private equity, venture capital, or external institutional shareholders.

Name

MPA Pharma GmbH

Legal name

MPA Pharma GmbH

Website

https://mpapharma.de

Company type

Private

Founded year

1989

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

501–1,000 employees

Short description

MPA Pharma GmbH is a family-owned German pharmaceutical company that re-imports and parallel-imports original branded medicines from 25 EU countries, distributing them through EMRAmed (Germany/Austria) and Paranova Group (Scandinavia) to public pharmacies and wholesalers under GMP/GDP and EU Falsification Directive standards.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Pharmaceutical Re-Import & Distribution

NAICS

Drugs and Druggists' Sundries Merchant Wholesalers (424210), Pharmaceutical Preparation Manufacturing (325412)

SIC

Wholesale-Drugs, Proprietaries & Druggists' Sundries (5122), Pharmaceutical Preparations (2834)

akta.pro primary industry

Government & Public-Sector Pharmaceutical Supply (Tender/Prime Vendor) (HLAIAJAF)

akta.pro secondary industry

GMP Scale-Up, Tech Transfer & Process Validation (PPQ) (HLAGAHAL)

Keywords

• Pharmaceutical re-import
• Parallel import medicines
• GMP contract manufacturing
• Pharmaceutical wholesale distribution
• EU serialized medicines

Headquarters

HQ city

Trittau

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices4 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Supply Chain, Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Re- and Parallel Import of EU Pharmaceuticals: MPA Pharma imports original branded medicines from 25 EU countries where they are priced lower, and resells them in Germany, Austria, and Scandinavia after relabeling in local languages. This accounts for the majority of their business.
2. Contract Manufacturing (Lohnfertigung): MPA Pharma offers contract manufacturing services including repackaging, relabeling, and custom packaging solutions for pharmaceutical products and medical devices for third-party companies.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

MPA Pharma GmbH imports original branded pharmaceutical products from 25 EU countries (where they are priced lower) and redistributes them in Germany, Austria, and Scandinavian markets after GMP-compliant repackaging and relabeling into the local language. The portfolio covers patented and non-patented medicines, generics, OTC products, controlled substances, and medical devices. The company also offers GMP-compliant contract manufacturing (repackaging, relabeling, custom packaging) to third-party pharmaceutical firms.

Product overview

MPA Pharma GmbH operates as a pharmaceutical import and trading company with a portfolio of interconnected products and services. The core offerings center on reimport and parallel import of original branded medicines from EU countries (accounting for approximately 90% parallel imports), which are then distributed through two regional subsidiaries: EMRAmed Arzneimittel serving Germany and Austria, and Paranova Group serving Scandinavia (Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway). The product range includes patented and non-patented products, generic products, OTC medicines, controlled substances (BTM), and medical devices. Supporting services include contract manufacturing (tolling) for third-party companies offering repackaging and specified packaging solutions, plus compliance with the EU Falsification Directive through securPharm serialization and verification services. The company operates under GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) and GDP (Good Distribution Practice) standards.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• EU Pharmaceutical Re-Import Re-import of original branded medicines manufactured by multinational pharmaceutical corporations. MPA Pharma researches, purchases, and imports the same original medicines from 25 EU countries and distributes them cost-effectively in target markets (Germany, Austria, Scandinavia). The medicines are relabeled in the local language for the destination market.
• EU Pharmaceutical Parallel Import Parallel import of original medicines produced in EU foreign countries, accounting for approximately 90% of MPA Pharma's total import volume. Original medicines are transported in parallel to the channels used by multinational pharmaceutical corporations into target markets.
• EMRAmed Arzneimittel GmbH (Distribution Subsidiary – Germany/Austria) Wholly-owned distribution subsidiary of MPA Pharma serving Germany and Austria. Offers a comprehensive range including patented and non-patented products, generic products, over-the-counter EU medicines (OTC), controlled substances (BTM), and medical devices to pharmacies and wholesalers.
• Paranova Group (Distribution Subsidiary – Scandinavia) Majority-owned distribution subsidiary of MPA Pharma serving Scandinavian countries: Paranova Group A/S (Denmark, headquartered in Herlev) and Paranova Oy (Finland, headquartered in Vantaa), also serving Sweden and Norway. Distributes EU-imported pharmaceutical products.
• Lohnherstellung / Contract Manufacturing GMP-compliant contract manufacturing services for third-party companies. MPA Pharma offers high-quality (re)packaging of medicines and medical devices, manufacturing of specified packaging solutions, and printing of individual labels and package leaflets.
• securPharm / EU Falsification Directive Compliance Serialization Compliance and serialization service effective February 9, 2019, providing every prescription article repackaged by MPA Pharma and distributed by EMRAmed with a 2D code (including unique serialization number) and an originality seal guaranteeing packaging integrity. MPA Pharma invested approximately 2 million euros in hardware and software for this initiative.

Quantifiable outcome

• 264 million EUR annual cost savings for German healthcare system through parallel imports
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• EMRAmed Arzneimittel GmbHcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorEMRAmed is a wholly-owned distribution subsidiary of MPA Pharma GmbH, serving the German and Austrian markets with EU-imported pharmaceutical products.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• 2care4: Danish parallel importer and pharmaceutical wholesaler serving Northern European markets. Comparable in scope to Paranova, focused on parallel-import economics and pharmacy-channel B2B sales.
• Pharma Gerke GmbH: German pharmaceutical wholesaler and parallel importer serving pharmacies across Germany. Directly comparable to MPA's German distribution arm in scope, customer base, and product set.
• Orifarm Group: Danish-headquartered parallel importer of pharmaceuticals with operations across Northern Europe. Direct comparable to MPA's parallel-import business, particularly overlapping with the Paranova subsidiary in the Scandinavian market.
• CC Pharma GmbH: German-based pharmaceutical parallel importer and wholesaler focused on re- and parallel imports of branded medicines. Competes head-to-head with MPA's EMRAmed distribution subsidiary in the German market.
• Abacus Medicine: Danish-headquartered parallel distributor of pharmaceuticals and originator medicines across European markets. Directly comparable business model to MPA's Paranova in terms of cross-EU sourcing and pharmacy-channel distribution.

Broad incumbents

• STADA Arzneimittel AG: Major European generics and specialty pharma company headquartered in Germany. Competes indirectly with MPA's parallel-import model by offering lower-cost generic alternatives to originator medicines.
• Phoenix Group: One of Europe's largest pharmaceutical wholesale and distribution groups, headquartered in Germany. Operates a far broader pharmaceutical distribution network than MPA, including parallel imports as one line of business, but competes with MPA at the wholesaler-customer interface.
• Teva Pharmaceutical Industries: Global generics leader with a substantial European footprint. Indirect competitor through generic substitution, which erodes the originator medicines that MPA's parallel-import model is built on.
• Alliance Healthcare: European pharmaceutical wholesaler (part of Walgreens Boots Alliance) operating across multiple EU markets. Competes with MPA for pharmacy-customer relationships and serves as both customer and competitor in the wholesale layer.

Emerging players

• EVER Pharma GmbH: Austria-based specialty pharma company with manufacturing and distribution operations focused on neurology, urology, and hospital injectable products. Comparable as a mid-sized European pharmaceutical manufacturer/distributor with GMP operations similar to MPA's Osterburg facility.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xxing.com/companies/mpapharmagmbh
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/mpa-pharma-gmbh

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Subsidiaries2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about MPA Pharma GmbH