Spain’s Almirall has posted a 13.3% increase in sales to 467.9 million euros for the first half of the year but earnings have declined as a result of costs associated with recent acquisitions.
Specifically, net income was down 8% to 85.5 million euros reflecting expenses resulting from the acquisitions of Hermal, the German prescription skincare unit bought from the UK’s Reckitt Benckiser and eight products purchased from Shire for £213 million. However those two deals contributed to the revenue growth and led to the opening of new Almirall affiliates in Austria, the United Kingdom, Poland and Switzerland.
Almirall’s R&D spend went up 32.5% to 64.3 million euros, a large chunk of which has been devoted to aclidinium bromide for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The drug has the potential to be a blockbuster, according to some analysts, and the Barcelona-headquartered firm said that it expects to publish top-line results from Phase III trials on aclidinium before the end of the third quarter.
In terms of pipeline, a spokeswoman for Almirall told PharmaTimes World News noted that a couple of interesting compounds have entered the clinic. These are LAS186323 for rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis, which is in Phase I, while a new compound for asthma and COPD, LAS100977, has successfully completed a daily single dose trial demonstrating efficacy for 24 hours. The company also has several molecules under development in dermatology, three of which are in Phase III.
