Almirall Prodesfarma consolidates its international expansion by opening a subsidiary in Italy.

Almirall Prodesfarma, the first Spanish multinational pharmaceutical company, is strengthening its international presence with the opening of a subsidiary in Italy. The company is thus consolidating its presence and position within the European market, where it already has subsidiaries in Germany, Belgium, France, Holland and Portugal.

With headquarters in Milan, Almirall Prodesfarma Italia S.p.A. has a staff of 170 people, 150 of whom are involved in promotion. The Italian subsidiary expects to turn over approximately 23 million euros in the year 2003.

The Italian pharmaceutical market is the sixth largest in the world and the fourth largest in Europe in terms of turnover. In addition, Italy is the European country with the fifth highest number of pharmaceutical companies operating in the country, near 300.

The key products in this subsidiary's sales portfolio will be medicines that are entirely researched and developed by Almirall Prodesfarma. Thus, the anti-migraine drug almotriptan; the antihistamine ebastine, the anti-inflammatory agent aceclofenac, and the gastrointestinal prokinetic agent clebopride will be distributed in Italy and marketed under the trade names Almogran, Kestine, Airtal and Motilex, respectively.

Dr Jorge Gallardo, President and Chief Executive Officer of Almirall Prodesfarma, comments: "It is a pleasure to move forward in such an important market as Italy with this opening. The creation of this new subsidiary represents a step forward not only in Almirall Prodesfarma's expansion but also in the Spanish pharmaceutical industry's overall process of internationalisation".

Almirall Prodesfarma, the first Spanish multinational pharmaceutical company

The main aim of Almirall Prodesfarma, the first Spanish multinational pharmaceutical company, is to provide society with innovative drugs to combat discomfort and disease, thus helping to improve health and quality of life. To this end, it constantly devotes the maximum human and financial resources to researching new products.

The company's main research fields fall within the areas related to the treatment of asthma, allergies, bronchitis, atopic dermatitis, arthritis and gastrointestinal disorders.

Global estimation of the workforce in 2002 is over 3,000 people, with an R&D team of 508. Annual expenses for R&D in 2001 reached 56 million euros and the estimate for this year 2002 is 73 million euros. In this area, the global forecast for the next five years is 450 million euros.

In addition, the company has five R&D centres and six manufacturing plants, as well as branch offices in the main capital cities of Spain and subsidiaries in Europe and Latin America.