(Bloomberg) -- Almirall SA expects growth to accelerate in 2024 as the Spanish pharmaceutical company aims to offer its latest products to more patients and targets the US market.
“Our base business is super stable and we have a number of growth drivers,” Chief Executive Officer Carlos Gallardo said in an interview. He sees a “significant acceleration of both top and bottom line” earnings figures in the coming years and said the company is entering a “very exciting phase.”
Almirall’s margins at the level of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization were eroded in recent years as it focused on research and commercial efforts to launch its atopic dermatitis compound Ebglyss, which is currently being rolled out in Europe. Now, this is one of the main new products driving sales growth and is expected to break even by the end of 2025, the CEO said.
Atopic dermatitis represents “a market where there are a lot of unmet needs despite already having a number of advanced treatments available,” he said. “Only around 6% of the eligible population are using advanced drugs, so there’s a great opportunity to help patients that are not being treated now.”
The Barcelona-based company is also carrying out trials to extend the age of patients that Ebglyss is indicated for to those younger than 12 years old, said Gallardo. Almirall is confident Ebglyss will meet guidance for sales of €450 million ($490 million) in 2030. It also expects Ilumetri, a psoriasis treatment launched in 2018, will reach sales of €250 million that year.
US Market
Even though Gallardo sees the two products pushing “the company to grow significantly in the short and medium term,” they are sold only in Europe. “If we want to be a leader in medical dermatology, we’ve got to be competitive in the US, the world’s largest market,” he said.
After the 2018 acquisition of Allergan’s US dermatology portfolio, which included Seysara, an oral drug for acne whose sales didn’t meet expectations, Almirall is now focusing on Klisyri, an actinic keratosis treatment, to shore up its US operations.
The Food and Drug Administration last month approved an extension to 100 square-centimeters of the skin surface on which the product can be used, a four-fold increase from the initial approval in 2020. That can help raise the number of patients that could be treated, the CEO said.
“We have good expectations there and we believe that will set a growth trajectory again with this operation,” Gallardo said.
The company’s strategy to grow through purchases is limited to bolt-on acquisitions rather than “transformational” deals that can distract the teams “from the real opportunities” in Almirall’s current portfolio of products, he said.
“We have a commitment to be in dermatology for the long term,” said Gallardo, whose grandfather founded Almirall 80 years ago. “As a family-owned business, we think more in generations than in quarters.”
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