06/02/2014
ESTEVE BOOSTS ITS PRESENCE IN USA AND EXPANDS ITS PORTFOLIO IN SPAIN
Through the Group's generics company in USA (Breckenridge Pharmaceutical), ESTEVE has acquired the product portfolio of Cypress Pharmaceutical Inc.
As a result of the strategic alliance with the Japanese pharmaceutical company EISAI, ESTEVE launched in December a treatment for epilepsy in the Spanish market to expand its presence in specialized medicines.
Regarding R&D, the company has announced results from Clinical Phase II of its new molecule E-58425 and is at present, seeking partners for its development.
ESTEVE is fostering its growth in the world's largest pharmaceutical market, USA, by acquiring a portfolio of 25 generic products from Cypress Pharmaceutical Inc. Four of these products are already marketed and the rest will be progressively launched through the affiliate generic company Breckenridge Pharmaceutical Inc. (BPI) in the coming years. ESTEVE, present in the US market since 1970 as a supplier of active pharmaceutical ingredients through its subsidiary Esteve Química, acquired BPI in 2009. The company ended 2013 with sales of almost 270 million euro. The acquired products will allow BPI to earn three years in the expected growth and estimates a volume of sales of 365 million euro in 2017, thus making the US ESTEVE's first international market.
As for the Spanish market, the implementation of the new strategic plan in ESTEVE's pharmaceutical activity, announced last year, is beginning to bear fruit. One of the pillars of this plan was to add new specialist products to the portfolio. This aim has been confirmed with the signing in late 2013 of a strategic alliance with the Japanese multinational EISAI in the area of epilepsy. Through this agreement, ESTEVE markets the antiepileptic drug Zonegran since last December.
In the rest of ESTEVE's business areas, such as OTC medicines, the company plans to launch in 2014 several new products and line extensions. Despite the good performance of the strategic plan, the company's development in Spain continues to face, as the main barrier, the cost containing measures that the Spanish Government is implementing.
In the area of R&D, the company's pipeline continues to make good progress, specially the analgesic E-58425, a new, firstin-class product. The Phase II clinical data presented at the end of last October demonstrates the potential use of E-58425 in moderate or severe acute pain; furthermore, the robustness of the results also suggest that it could be a new drug of great value for the treatment of moderate or severe chronic pain. Currently, ESTEVE is seeking partners to further develop E-58425.
Besides E-58425, ESTEVE has several ongoing projects in various stages of development aimed at Sigma-1 receptor, an area where the company is world leader in knowledge and experience. The most advanced project, E-52862, currently in clinical phase II, constitutes a new approach to pain with a novel mechanism of action in a field of unmet medical needs. Both projects, E-58425 and E-52862, have been backed by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness.
The adjustments and organizational transformation made by ESTEVE in the last year at all levels, have reversed the trend of the Group's recurring income, from a recurring negative EBIT in 2012 to positive in 2013, and closing the year with a turnover of 810 Million .
Despite these good results, the company expects to continue in 2014 with a policy of cost containment, efficiency of all processes and prioritization of investments.
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