Kleon Tsetis Foundation

In the beginning, there was thought…

In the context of the continuous support of vulnerable social groups and the empowerment of the younger generation, in 2018 we created the Non-Profit organisation (NPO) ‘KLEON TSETIS’, in memory of the founder of the industries UNI-PHARMA & INTERMED, the tireless and restless researcher, pharmacist and industrialist Kleon Tsetis.

The Foundation is part of the broader framework of the Tsetis Group Pharmaceutical Companies’ Strategy for Sustainable Development and Corporate Responsibility. The aim of the ‘KLEON TSETIS’ NPO is to strengthen research and innovation, promote science, education and the arts, support academic and research institutions and the new generation of scientists, as well as expand synergies between Industry and Academia.

Excellence, ethics, innovative thinking and learning are some of the fundamental principles of “KLEON TSETIS” NPO.

The main activity of the ‘KLEON TSETIS’ NPO is the interconnection of researchers from all fields of Health Sciences, the funding of translational research projects and the general support of research activity and young scientists, e.g. through awarding scholarships to excellent postgraduate students, PhD candidates and researchers who stand out for their academic performance.

Indicatively, from 2018 to July 2023, the ‘KLEON TSETIS’ NPO Foundation had already financially supported 27 young excellent students & researchers and 26 scientific-research programs with sponsorships of direct consumption materials and fixed equipment.

Also, ‘KLEON TSETIS’ NPO financially supports research programs with sponsorships in the form of consumable materials and fixed equipment, as well as the upgrading of building facilities of hospitals and educational institutions, such as the construction of university halls, amphitheaters, etc.

We are proud of the creation of the ‘KLEON TSETIS’ NPO Foundation, as one of our goals is to stem the wave of emigration of young scientists and keep them in Greece.

It is our duty to help as many young scientists and researchers as possible remain in the country and Greece to be transformed into a strong Hub of Excellence and Innovation not only for the Balkans, but also for Europe.

We work closely with academic and university communities, as well as with groups of scientists from universities abroad.

However, the KLEON TSETIS Foundation has another character: It sends a strong message to society for the elimination of inequalities, gender-based and domestic violence. This logic includes the Scholarship to Pharmacy students in memory of pharmacist Garyfallia Psarrakou, which we announced in November 2021.

The ‘KLEON TSETIS’ NPO Foundation and the Tsetis Group of Pharmaceutical Companies are open to fruitful proposals and collaborations.

The Foundation & its history,
starring the brilliant Κleon Tsetis

When intelligence, insight, innate charisma, ethics and the inquisitive mind meet humanity and effortless generosity, then this mixture, apart from charismatic, is also explosive!

This is proven by the life, times and works of Kleon Tsetis.

Kleon Tsetis marked an era with his restless, creative mind, his fresh ideas, his characteristic high spirit of solidarity with which, without knowing it at the time, he laid the stone for the Foundation that worthily bears his name.

We often say, when someone takes his first steps at work, that these were timid… When Kleon Tsetis took his first steps in Arta, in the 1950s, these were not timid. On the contrary, they were sanguine and firm. He had a personal compass; he knew where he wanted to go and what his soul desired to offer. And he proved that several years later!

An Artino in Kifissia

From the pharmacy of Arta with inspiration and strength in Kifissia. He settled in Kifissia in 1963, when this area was still more of a countryside, giving life to the local economy and society.

Encouraged by his dynamic wife Sonia, he started the creation of UNI-PHARMA, a small, personal at first, company. Over the years UNI-PHARMA evolved into an international Greek pharmaceutical industry, with blockbuster drugs and treatments and then into an enviable Group. It became a case study and success story for the sector, with remarkable investments, exports to over 70 countries worldwide and human resources reaching 670 people. And its Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility Program targets at vulnerable social groups, science, youth and environmental protection.

Phenobarbital was just the beginning…

Phenobarbital as an oral solution, LUMIDROPS® that he discovered in 1963, was just the beginning.

Kleon Tsetis with his knowledge, stubbornness, his tireless nature and dedication, created a series of pioneering and innovative products that wrote, are writing and as everything shows, will continue to write history, placing Greece in the world industrial, research and commercial map.

Apotel, Salpospir, T4, Trebon Grippe, Trebon Grippe day & night, Algofren, Eva, Luxurious, Eva Belle, Chlorhexil, are just some of the therapeutic pharmaceutics produced in our facilities.

Apotel, Salpospir, T4, Trebon Grippe, Trebon Grippe day & night, Algofren, Eva, Luxurious, Eva Belle, Chlorhexil, are just some of the therapeutic pharmaceutics produced in our facilities in Kifissia, which treat and improve the quality of life not only of  Greeks, but of millions of people around the world.

Kleon Tsetis, perhaps could never have imagined, no matter how much fantasy, insight and faith he had in his children, that his worthy daughters, Iulia and Irini Tsetis, after his loss, would tirelessly not only continue his creative path, but even surpass him, proving that they have the same strong genes.

And there was Apirotan

It is Kleon Tsetis himself, the restless pharmacist and researcher – who studied the bioequivalence of drugs until late at night – the restless industrialist and the social solidarist, who inspired us to create a Foundation with the emblematic logo Apirotan.

The Foundation currently supports young scientists from the fields of Pharmacy, Medicine, Life Sciences in general, rewarding excellence, pioneering, innovation and the struggles of the new generation of scientists.

When research harmoniously marries Art

Of course, the Foundation could not fail to include Culture and Art, which Kleon Tsetis loved so much. Art, with its magic, was the oxygen of his life, and it inspired him in his everyday life.

Our aim for the Kleon Tsetis Foundation is to become a small movement for Greece and to be able, by supporting young scientists, to send a strong message in every direction:

That our country can keep brilliant scientific minds at home, prevent the brain drain and be a case study for every country, especially for the small and not economically robust ones.

Another goal for the ‘KLEON TSETIS’ Foundation is to be able to harmoniously connect the research work and that of the academic and university community with Industry.

We absolutely believe in this ‘marriage’, which will be able to highlight the research characteristics of Greek production and development and at the same time, to create the conditions that will help us to build an Industrial Consciousness as a country.

Love & devotion to Epirus

Certainly, a Foundation in memory of Kleon Tsetis, could not bear just any logo. The man who loved and honored his homeland, who consistently sought anonymity in his actions and contribution to society, the silent benefactor with unwavering values and a moral approach to life, deserved the creation of a Foundation in his memory, with a logo that encapsulates all the love and devotion to his birthplace.

There came “Apeirotan”, with a bull as the emblem, which is the ancient Doric expression of Ancient Epirus, the homeland that gave birth, nurtured and nourished Kleon Tsetis.

Apeirotan, for it was the ‘apeiros’ (infinite) land of Epirus, which led Kleon Tsetis to infinitely giving and we hope that the ‘KLEON TSETIS’ NPO Foundation will do the same.

And, as the poet Menander used to say, “How beautiful it is to be human, when you truly are human…”

A phrase that perfectly mirrors the psyche and moral stature of Kleon Tsetis.

Research Activity of OFET in collaboration
with Research & Academic Institutions

OFET Group has managed to create a wide scientific network, consisting of more than 30 research groups, enhancing the interconnection of researchers from all Health Sciences fields and Academia throughout Greece.

OFET Group, in collaboration with this scientific network, carries out numerous research projects on various topics, which lead to the development of innovative pharmaceutical products, know-how and new cutting-edge technologies, transferring academic research from the laboratory bench to clinical practice.

The consolidation of synergies between Industry & Academic Community, the general support of research activity and young scientists, as well as the promotion of innovation are among the main priorities of the OFET group and ‘KLEON TSETIS’ NPO.

For example:

  • OFET’s participation in 10 national/international external research programs, co-funded by the General Secretariat for Research and Innovation (GSRI) (e.g. Actions Research-Create-Innovate cycle A & B, Horizon 2020 etc.),
  • but also, the financing from OFET’s own resources of more than 45 internal research programs from 2018 until 2023, which are elaborated in domestic Academic and Research Institutions, while 26 research programs have been funded as sponsorships & scholarships by ‘KLEON TSETIS’ NPO Foundation.

The actions and donations of the
KLEON TSETIS NPO Foundation

From its inception in 2018 until July 2023, the ‘KLEON TSETIS’ NPO Foundation had already financially supported 27 young excellent students and researchers, along with 26 scientific-research programs through sponsorships of consumables and fixed equipment.

Indicatively, we mention some of the scientific areas where research projects have been funded by the ‘KLEON TSETIS’ NPO Foundation:

Retargeting of known pharmaceutical substances (Drug Repositioning), Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology: For instance, development of innovative drug delivery nanosystems, Biotechnology: e.g. studies of probiotics, Study of Greek biodiversity plants, Pharmacognosy & Chemistry of Natural Products, Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Synthesis of new pharmaceuticals of molecules, Pharmacology, Pharmaceutical Technology, Pharmacogenomics, Cardiology, Endocrinology, Dermatology, Gastroenterology, Gynecology, Urology, Pediatrics, etc.

100 years since the Greek Revolution
The Foundation was There

  • In 2021, as part of the celebration of 200 years since the GREEK REVOLUTION of 1821, the ‘KLEON TSETIS’ NPO Foundation proceeded into sponsoring a new interactive 100-seat amphitheater for the Athens School of Pharmacy of UOA. The auditorium also facilitates the online education of the department’ s students. The state-of-the-art amphitheater was inaugurated on September 27, 2021, in the presence of political, university and academic authorities.

  • A Scholarship for Pharmacy students, in memory of pharmacist Garifallia Psarrakou who was murdered in July 2021, was announced by the president of OFET, Mrs. Iulia Tseti, on November 15, 2021, through the ‘KLEON TSETIS’ NPO Foundation, during a memorial event organized by her fellow students. The scholarship will be awarded annually to a student from the Laboratory Group of Pharmacology Professor Ioanna Andreadou.

  • In March 2023, the ‘KLEON TSETIS’ NPO Foundation also made a significant donation to Exelixi Zois, an organization that supports young children to become independent. More specifically, through specially-designed educational training, professional orientation, psychosocial empowerment, cultural and sports activities, EXELIXI ZOIS helps and supports children in acquiring the necessary resources, knowledge and skills that will be beneficial to them in their future paths, both in the workplace and in society.

And we carry on….