The pharmaceutical group Almirall plans to achieve annual sales of 700 million euros in just two of its new drugs, Ilumetri, for psoriasis, and Ebglyss, a biological for atopic dermatitis, when both reach their peak sales, in 2030, which which would be equivalent to multiplying by five the income they currently bring in, of 165 million euros, as explained by its executive president, Carlos Gallardo, at the shareholders meeting held this morning in Barcelona.
Gallardo highlighted that Almirall allocates 110 million euros to R&D, 12% of its net sales, which reached 894.5 million euros last year (4% more than the previous year), which has led the firm to have a portfolio of 50 dermatological products. Sales of these products in Europe are already driving the group’s income (its sales grew by 17% last year) as well as margins.
The United States, on the other hand, has been left behind because the group does not have a license to sell these drugs there. However, the situation will reverse at the end of this year, because the FDA has expanded the indications for use of one of its medications, Klisiry, so that its American subsidiary plans to return to profit in 2025.
Almirall has a plan to invest 400 million euros in R&D between 2023 and 2025, which it plans to realize more than. This research effort, Gallardo noted, has been possible due to the capital increase carried out last year “creating a solid portfolio of projects to grow in medical dermatology.”
Among the new R&D projects, Gallardo highlighted the alliances with EpimAb to develop specific antibodies and with Absci to introduce Artificial Intelligence in the development of new drugs. Almirall also entered into an alliance with Etherna to develop messenger RNA-based therapies for serious skin diseases. The group also has two new drugs in development, anti-IL-1RAP and anti-IL-2 fusion lutein.
The group controlled by the Gallardo family recorded losses of 38.5 million euros last year when provisioning part of the investment made to launch a medicine, Seysara. Gallardo recalled that “this is an accounting entry without a cash outlay,” to adjust the value of the drug to the income that he expects it to generate, and that he does not plan to make provisions of this type in other assets in his portfolio.
