Almirall Prodesfarma sales up 12% in 2000

Almirall Prodesfarma, the leading Spanish drugmaker, has posted a 12.4%rise in sales for 2000 to 618 million euros ($543.9 million), noting that revenues from abroad through its own marketing efforts or from licensees totaled 239 million euros. The firm produces more than 75 million units every year and its products are sold in more than 80 countries worldwide.

Almirall, which has a domestic market share of around 6%-7%, acts as a licensee for many of the major players in the pharmaceutical industry, including GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer and Bristol-Myers Squibb. In terms of its own-developed products, its leading earners are the anti-inflammatories aceclofenac and piketoprofen, the antacid almagate, the antihistamine ebastine and the antiemetic clebopride. Most recently, Almirall's antimigraine drug Almogran (almotriptan) was launched in Spain, the UK, Finland and Denmark and Bayer is planning to introduce it on the German market soon (Marketletter March 12).

R&D costs up 25%