Chiesi Group: increase in turnover of 14.3% in 2008, Chiesi
Release Date: 2009-03-23
Parma, 18th March 2009 – A decidedly favourable 2008 for the Chiesi Group, which confirms and further improves the growth trend recorded in the last few years both in Italy and the rest of the world.
Sales have reached 748 million Euro, registering an increase of +14.3% (almost three times the average growth rate in the European market), achieved once again without significant acquisitions and despite being subjected to price cuts during 2007 and 2008. In Italy, Chiesi achieved a 6.5% increase in direct sales in a considerably depressed market as far as pharmacy distribution is concerned.
The new corporate products recently developed by the company represent over half the global turnover. In particular, Foster® (beclometasone dipropionate and formoterol fumarate) indicated for the treatment of asthma has overtaken the forecasts for most of the largest markets and is promising to become the Group’s top product in 2009.
These results have put the Group – as the only Italian representative – among the seven fastest developing pharmaceutical companies in the world (IMS Health Midas data, September 2008). An achievement that has also been recognised by Pisa University, which in October 2008 assigned Chiesi Farmaceutici the Long Life Family Business Award as the most successful family business.
“The pharmaceutical sector is going through a transition phase”, comments Alberto Chiesi, Chairman and Managing Director of the company. “The results achieved by the Group, which go against the current trend in this sector, are particularly gratifying for the Group and are spurring us to carry on with renewed commitment. In the future we may have to face big challenges, and our success depends on our ability to find innovative solutions and to meet the new demands of the market”.
R&D activities have grown, having followed the plans required for the development of new molecules, and their incidence on turnover has risen to 14.4% (108 million Euro), a level which the company intends to maintain and extend over the next few years.
264 patents granted worldwide and 14 new patent applications filed in 2008 represent a record for the Group and are evidence of the intense activity carried out by the clinical and non-clinical research departments, whose efforts are currently focussed on respiratory diseases and rare illnesses.
As well as the 3 Research Centres in Parma, Paris and Rockville (USA), there is also now one in Chippenham (UK), which was set up in 2008 in record time. This centre aims to bring innovative solutions to the pressurised aerosol field by studying the phenomenon of atomisation.
Besides completing numerous mutual recognition procedures and carrying out further clinical studies on Foster®, Chiesi Research and Development has continued with trials for the use of Curosurf®, world leader for the treatment of respiratory distress syndrome in premature neonates, with new ventilation techniques. The development of Nymusa® (caffeine citrate), indicated in the therapy for primary apnoea in these tiny patients, has made significant progress with the regulatory procedure and is close to being approved. The clinical development of carmoterol for the treatment of chronic bronchitis must also be mentioned.
Overall, the investments made in 2008 totalled 39.1 million Euro, and concerned the industrial production sector in particular, not only in Parma, but also in France and Brazil. The Group’s internationalisation process also continued, characterised by further consolidation in the emerging markets in Turkey, The Netherlands, Brazil, Russia and also in China, where a new affiliate was opened in June.
Today, there are 3,243 people working for Chiesi; over the past year, there was a 10% increase worldwide as a result of additional employees recruited in particular by our newly established foreign affiliates.
The plans made for the near future are likewise as ambitious. In 2009, the Chiesi Group forecasts a turnover in excess of 830 million Euro, with an increase in the sales of corporate products totalling 20% and a growth rate in the foreign affiliates averaging between 15 and 30%.
| Type: | NORMAL |
| Company: | Chiesi |
| Country: | Italy |
| Url: | http://www.chiesigroup.com/2008/eng/chiesi_informa/news_detail.asp?id=90 |