Pratia Bulgaria, a journey with Martin Kosturski (Part 1)

It takes over 250 km to drive from Gabrovo to Sofia. The trip this time is accompanied by harsh winter weather. From the car windows, one can admire snow glazing the mountain tops of the Balkan Mountain range. I finally had a chance to chat with Dr. Martin Kosturski, MD – the Country Head of Pratia Bulgaria, about his adventure in Clinical Trials.

He started his business ten years ago in his hometown Gabrovo, which has flourished over the years. It all started with a small room in the local, regional hospital with Marieta, who is still working at the company. The Bulgarian business is since 2021 part of Pratia Global Network – a platform for innovative medicine, uniting Patients, Investigators, and Sponsors through a mixed site model and state-of-the-art technology.

So what does Bulgaria have to offer?

They are all scattered all over Bulgaria, covering over 70% of the territory – making access to innovative medicine for Bulgarians as convenient as possible.

Why did you start your business in Gabrovo and not in the Capital?

Martin: I started the business in my hometown Gabrovo because I believe that we can achieve more in Clinical Trials by providing access to innovative care for Patients without the hassle of traveling long distances. Yet, at the same time, I want to influence the local economies, so that young people and medical professionals can get the opportunity to gain knowledge and the motivation to stay in their local cities, and even in Bulgaria.

Last December, we celebrated the 10th anniversary of Clinical research activities with the Bulgarian team. Your first employee Marieta is still working with us in the company. How did this long-lasting collaboration and friendship between you two start?

Martin: So the story started ten years ago. I was an investigator in one Clinical Trial in Gabrovo and worked in a private Medical Center in Sofia. It was utterly impossible to coordinate this study and other activities in Sofia. At the same time. I decided to hire one person to support me, and it was tough because we did not have so much income. Yet, I was ambitious, and I wanted to do something that our country needed except for studies within the most prominent university clinics.

At that time, there were no other working good models outside these significant universities. So I planned an advertisement, and I found Marieta. In the very beginning, the General Director of the hospital in Gabrovo gave us a tiny room. It was about 15 square meters, and we started from there. After that, we were awarded a second trial, which increased the workload.

I traveled a lot back and forth between Sofia and Gabrovo to coordinate all the stuff with Marieta. Marieta is very loyal and professional and remains a vital part of the team. We tried to hire a second person to support us on the ground. It was a guy, he was a pharmacist, and we thought that the pharmacist would be the best person to work with. But to be a coordinator is like a mentality. It’s not something that you learn in the university. For example, he wrote one email for about one hour because he wanted to be perfect. This was his mindset, and he was a classmate of Marieta. After a while, Marieta says: “Martin, I am sorry, he failed. Let’s find another person.”

“I want to influence the local economies, so that young people and medical professionals can get the opportunity to gain knowledge and the motivation to stay in their local cities, and even in Bulgaria.”

…and what happened next?

Martin: The curious thing to remind all of us is Marieta’s background. Do you know that she is an English teacher? She went to me and said, “Martin, I don’t want to be a teacher. Use my English, and we can improve the work within Clinical Trials, and we can do greater business together.”

Then we were joined by Mihaela, our Clinical Operations Manager at Pratia Bulgaria to this day. Her background, in the beginning, was not matching our industry. She was working in hotels in restaurants. But Mihaela was very ambitious, and together with Marieta, they have built an awe-inspiring team. Both of them cooperate very well. I think without them, no – I’m even sure that I would not be able to build such a company without them.

What were the next steps for the three of you?

Martin: I saw that massive potential in collaborating with such regional hospitals. By embedding a research organization within the hospital system, we can help doctors with paperwork all kinds of the administrative processes needed for a seamless clinical trial. This way, they could focus on the Patients.

As time passed, we added another hospital in Sliven, then another one in Montana. We currently have six research sites, and our platform is embedded within 16 other hospitals. I think the central core is in Gabrovo because of these first two people inside the company. Everything in our business is not only done by machines. People mainly do it.

Maybe this is luck, maybe because of my communication or everything together. I have to say that I appreciate these two women’s loyalty and professionalism. Around us, I would say we build a company that in our days count over 45 people throughout the country. Some of the people are working on global positions within the Pratia structure. The ideas and products we created during these ten-plus years became global. 

Stay tuned to learn more about our Bulgaria Site Network Business!
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