By Dimitri Soultogiannis
Special to the Hellenic News of America
Bensalem, PA—Dr. Spiros Spirea’s business and academic secrets were “revealed” on Wednesday September 28th, 2011 at Princeton’s “Buckingham Palace” during a presentation made by “Sigmapharm Laboratories” founder and CEO, who addressed the Greek American chamber of commerce.
Dr. Spireas has been a long standing member and a strong supporter of the chamber. Based out of Bensalem, PA Sigmapharm Laboratories is a privately held specialty pharmaceutical company, engaged in the development, manufacturing and marketing of unique generic and branded products. The company also provides contract development and manufacturing of patentable, stable and maximally bioavailable formulations of new chemical entities. The products are developed and manufactured using proprietary drug delivery systems, which can effectively optimize drug solubility, bioavailability and stability. Presently, the company and its affiliates control more than seventy formulation patents worldwide.
“We are proud to have one of the most innovative and efficient groups of scientists and inventors in the industry, who have pioneered the development of several unique pharmaceutical products currently marketed in the U.S,” Dr. Spireas said. “Backed by our proprietary technologies, our personnel’s proven track record and our state of the art R&D and manufacturing facilities, our company’s potential for success is virtually unlimited,” he added. For Dr. Spireas safety is a priority and therefore complying with all FDA regulations and procedures is of high importance. “We have always complied with FDA regulations, we made drugs for the people and therefore our responsibility is very high, unfortunately some of our competitors do not see it this way,” he said.
Dr. Spiro Spireas is the Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Sigmapharm Laboratories, which he founded on March 1, 2005. His extensive academic and industrial background is an invaluable company asset. Dr. Spireas is the inventor and author of more than 70 international and domestic patents and 200 scientific papers, books, and other publications in the fields of industrial pharmacy, biopharmaceutics, pharmacokinetics, pharmaceutical technology and analytical chemistry. He holds Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in Pharmaceutics and Industrial Pharmacy from St. John’s University, and a B.S. degree in Pharmacy from the Hellenic National University of Athens, Greece. Prior to forming Sigmapharm Laboratories, Dr. Spireas served for about 6 years as the Vice President of Research and Development for URL Pharma, Inc. (formerly URL/Mutual), where he developed various unique generic products including Felodipine extended release tablets which remained for about 4 years the only marketed generic equivalent to Astra Zeneca’s Plendil ER tablets. Prior to this, Dr. Spireas was for about 7 years a Professor of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Technology at the Arnold & Marie Schwartz College of Pharmacy of Long Island University, where he taught several graduate and undergraduate courses of pharmaceutical sciences, consulted for the pharmaceutical and nutritional industries and conducted extensive research producing more than 20 Ph.D. and M.S. dissertations. In fact, several of his graduate students continue to work with Dr. Spireas as key Sigmapharm personnel.
During his speech, the President of the Hellenic American National Council Mr. Paul Kotrotsios, thanked Dr. Spireas for their friendship and congratulated him for his success in his field and for his contributions to the Greek-American community, including the crucial role he played in the creation of the first Greek-American Bilingual school of Hamilton, NJ. Dr. Spireas is the President of the local Greek community in Trenton, NJ. “Spiros is a friend and a brother, I want to thank him for his services to Hellenism,” Kotrotsios said. The National Herald publisher Anthony Diamataris called Spireas a great Hellene.
In his conclusion statements, Dr. Spireas thanked the business world of the Greek-American community for their support and wished everyone prosperity and happiness, especially to Greece, a country that is going through a “rough patch at the moment”, as he said. It should also be mentioned that Spireas has also held other professional titles such as Vice President of Science and Technology and Vice President of Research and Development at URL Pharma, Inc., Philadelphia, PA, and Professor of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Technology at the Arnold & Marie Schwartz College of Pharmacy of Long Island University, Brooklyn, NY. He is also a member of the Metropolitan Council of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of New Jersey, being appointed by His Eminence Metropolitan Evangelos. Spiro is also an Archon of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of the Order of St. Andrew the Apostle, being installed in that position by His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. Dr. Spireas is the President of the American Hellenic Institute Foundation and a member of various Hellenic-American organizations such as the AHEPA Chapter 72 of Trenton, NJ and the Hellenic Vision. He was born and raised in Kalamata, Greece and lives in New Hope, PA, with his wife Dr. Amalia Kassapidis-Spireas, a pediatrician, and their two children, Sotiri and Mary.
