Creo Pharma

What Creo Pharma does

Creo Pharma, as represented in the source material, is the UK-facing identity of Zentiva Group, a.s., a privately-held European pharmaceutical manufacturer headquartered in Prague, Czech Republic, with its UK office in Guildford. The group develops, produces, and distributes high-quality, affordable medicines across five product categories: retail generics, hospital generics, branded generics, value-added medicines, and biosimilars. Manufacturing is anchored in four internal production sites and supplemented by a broad network of external manufacturing partners, with the wholly-owned Swiss manufacturer Helvepharm AG adding adjacent capacity.

The company serves more than 100 million people in over 40 countries across Europe and Central Asia, with a wholly-owned subsidiary structure spanning 27+ markets (UK, Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Ukraine, Kazakhstan) plus Switzerland. The workforce exceeds 5,400 professionals across 30+ countries. In the UK specifically, the company positions itself as an NHS-aligned supplier, working with NHS stakeholders across retail, hospital, and branded channels.

The business model is pharmaceutical supply: one-time product sales to public healthcare systems, hospitals, retail pharmacies, and wholesalers, plus an emerging B2B services layer covering API supply, out-licensing, contract development, contract manufacturing, and distribution partnerships. Revenue and pricing are not publicly disclosed. The customer base is dominated by national healthcare systems and institutional buyers; NHS UK is the only named end-customer relationship in the source material.

Name

Creo Pharma

Legal name

Zentiva Group, a.s.

Website

https://creopharma.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2007

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1,001–5,000 employees

Short description

Creo Pharma (Zentiva Group) is a European generics and biosimilars manufacturer operating four production sites plus partner networks, serving 100 million+ people across 40+ countries with NHS-focused UK operations.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Generic Pharmaceuticals

NAICS

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

SIC

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

akta.pro primary industry

Generic Hospital & Institutional Products (HLAIABAL)

akta.pro secondary industry

Generic Tender & Government Supply Markets (HLAIABAM)

Keywords

• Generic pharmaceuticals
• Pharmaceutical manufacturing
• Branded generics
• Biosimilar medicines
• Hospital pharmaceuticals

Headquarters

HQ city

Dunmow

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices27 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Generic Pharmaceuticals: Retail and hospital generics, branded generics, value-added medicines, and biosimilars designed to enhance access, improve outcomes, and reduce prescribing costs

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

Creo Pharma supplies generic, commercial brand, and specialist pharmaceutical products to the wholesale channel and to healthcare systems such as the NHS. The portfolio spans retail generics, hospital generics, branded generics, value-added medicines, and biosimilars designed to enhance access, improve outcomes, and reduce prescribing costs.

Product overview

The company develops, produces, and delivers high-quality, affordable medicines. The portfolio spans retail and hospital generics, branded generics, value-added medicines, and biosimilars—each designed to enhance access, improve outcomes, and reduce prescribing costs.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Retail Generics

Quantifiable outcome

• Serves 100 million+ people
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• External Manufacturing PartnerscoreOthersBroad network of external manufacturing partners that work alongside four internal manufacturing sites to ensure supply security across European markets

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Viatris: Formed from Mylan and Upjohn, Viatris is a major global off-patent pharmaceuticals player with extensive European generics presence and a comparable hospital/retail portfolio mix.
• Teva Pharmaceutical Industries: Global generics leader with deep European presence including the UK; competes with Zentiva across essentially every product category, but with significantly broader specialty and innovative portfolio.

Regional players

• Almirall: Spanish specialty pharma with branded generics and dermo-cosmetics focus; overlapping presence in several Southern European markets where Zentiva operates, though with a narrower therapeutic focus.

Emerging players

• Glenmark Pharmaceuticals: India-headquartered generics company with growing European branded generics footprint and biosimilars pipeline; competes on price and increasingly on differentiated formulations in overlapping European markets.
• Alvotech: Pure-play biosimilars developer and manufacturer with growing European commercialization footprint; competes specifically with Zentiva's biosimilars portfolio and is a likely partnering/acquisition target in the same space.

Direct peers

• Polpharma Group: Polish generics and API manufacturer with overlapping CEE presence and similar portfolio of retail/hospital generics, supplying European health systems under comparable cost-pressure dynamics.
• KRKA: Slovenian-headquartered generics manufacturer with a strong CEE and Eastern European footprint and a comparable product portfolio across prescription generics, branded generics, and value-added medicines.
• Sandoz: Spun out of Novartis, Sandoz is the world's largest pure-play generics and biosimilars company, directly competing with Zentiva in retail/hospital generics and biosimilars across European markets.
• Stada Arzneimittel: European-focused generic pharmaceuticals and consumer healthcare company with comparable portfolio of generics, branded generics, and biosimilars across retail and hospital channels; similarly PE-backed and operating at multi-country European scale.
• Accord Healthcare (Intas Pharmaceuticals): Intas-owned European generics subsidiary with a strong UK and EU hospital generics business, directly competing for NHS and continental hospital tenders alongside Zentiva.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@zentiva
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/creo-pharma

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Subsidiaries29 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 Creo Pharma