A roundup of the biggest pharma news from Spain, including Grifols’ comeback after a turbulent 2024 when the company lost 30 percent of its market value; Almirall’s revenue and value surge; Rovi’s contract manufacturing downturn, and Lilly’s USD 50 million Madrid plant expansion.
Grifols expects to boost revenue and free cash flow, shares soar (Reuters)
Almirall up 4% on steep revenue and profit rises (The Pharma Letter)
Spanish dermatology company Almirall (BME: ALM) was trading 4% higher on Monday afternoon after presenting its full-year 2024 financial results.
The Barcelona-based drugmaker’s revenue for the year grew more than 10% to 898.8 million euros ($941 million), while total earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) were nearly 11% higher at 192.6 million euros.
Almirall hosts Skin Academy to advance skin science and dermatology treatments (PMLive)
Almirall has announced that it will be hosting the 16th edition of its Skin Academy, a conference that encourages collaboration and the development of new methods and solutions in the field of dermatology.
The event brings together a broad range of experts and clinicians from across the world, Almirall said, with this year’s offering featuring a programme aimed at sharing scientific knowledge on skin diseases, their treatment and clinical best practice.
Rovi warns analyst profit consensus is too high, cites CDMO slowdown (Fierce Pharma)
Spanish CDMO Laboratorios Farmacéuticos Rovi, known simply as Rovi, is part of a parade of biopharma contractors struggling to keep their manufacturing businesses growing in a post-COVID world.
Rovi warned (PDF) in a regulatory release this month that analyst consensus estimates for its annual profits in 2024 are likely 10% to 15% too high. The CDMO said its slimmed-down profit outlook is “due basically to lower expected activity in the contract manufacturing business (CDMO) during the fourth quarter of 2024.”
The President meets with senior executives from the pharmaceutical industry and is committed to promoting Spain as a leader in this key sector (La Moncloa)
The President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, has held a meeting with senior executives from the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies and representatives of the sector’s employers’ associations. The meeting was also attended by the Minister for Industry and Tourism, Jordi Hereu; the Minister for Health, Mónica García; the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Universities, Juan Cruz Cigudosa; the Secretary of State for Industry, Rebeca Torró, and the Director of the Office of Economic Affairs and G20, Manuel de la Rocha.
Pedro Sánchez highlighted the importance of the pharmaceutical industry in Spain, representing approximately 1.5% of GDP and generating around 170,000 high value-added jobs. In fact, Spain is currently one of the world’s leading countries – and the leader in Europe – in clinical research, with close to 1,000 clinical trials per year. All of this comes against a backdrop of a 16% increase in Government R&D spending this year, surpassing the record 22 billion euros for the first time.
Lilly to invest 50 million dollars in Madrid production plant (Invest in Spain)
US pharmaceutical company Lilly will invest $50 million in expanding its plant in Alcobendas (Madrid) between 2025 and 2026. $30 million of this will be used to start up two new packaging lines, in addition to the three existing ones. The remaining $20 million will go on additional investments.
The Managing Director in Spain, Christina Vega, shared this information in a meeting with the media in which she detailed these investments.
JPMorgan Chase acquires 3.12% stake in Pharmamar, valued at €56.8 million (The Corner)
The largest US bank yesterday notified the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) of a 3.12% stake in the bio-pharmaceutical company Pharmamar. JPMorgan Chase, which reached this threshold last Monday, owns this package directly in shares (2.54%) and the rest (0.57%) through financial instruments (equity swap). With this operation, carried out through different companies and investment funds, this stake would be valued at €56.8 million.
Other PharmaMar shareholders, who have a larger shareholding than JPMorgan Chase, are José María Fernández Sousa, the company’s chairman and largest shareholder with 11.356%; Monserrat Andrade, who owns 5.242%; Sandra Ortega Mera, daughter of Amancio Ortega, founder of Inditex, with 5.091%; and Pedro Francisco Fernández Puentes, with 5.038%.
CUN and Ciemat develop more versatile and economical CAR-T in haematological cancers (Diariofarma, in Spanish)
Specialists led by the Clínica Universidad de Navarra (CUN) and Ciemat have developed a new type of CAR-T cells based on the use of non-viral vectors and aimed at treating haematological cancers such as lymphomas or B-lymphocyte leukaemias. This innovative therapy is based on the genetic modification of the patient’s T lymphocytes to recognise and attack malignant cells that present a protein known as CD19 antigen on their surface.
This process has been developed thanks to a close collaboration between two groups of Spanish research centres. On the one hand, the Clínica Universidad de Navarra, the Cima Universidad de Navarra, the Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Navarra (IdiSNA) and the Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Cáncer (CIBERONC) and, on the other hand, the Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioambientales y Tecnológicas (CIEMAT), the Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Raras (CIBERER) and the Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de la Fundación Jiménez Díaz.
Oryzon defines Phase III Trial endpoints for Agitation and Aggression in BPD with input from new Clinical Advisory Board (ASEBio)
Oryzon Genomics S.A (ISIN Code: ES0167733015, ORY), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company and a European leader in epigenetics, today announced that it has established the primary and key secondary endpoints for its planned Phase III clinical trial evaluating vafidemstat in Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD).
This milestone was reached in collaboration with Oryzon’s newly formed Clinical Advisory Board (CAB), composed of leading experts in psychiatry research and clinical trials for psychiatric disorders.
