Madrid, Oct. 13, 2024 (Lusa) - PPortuguese pharmaceutical company BIAL expects to maintain a turnover this year similar to the €337.4 million of 2023, despite the impact of the loss of a patent on a drug in the US, said the company's chairman, António Portela.
‘We are starting to feel the effects of the loss of the patent for our epilepsy drug in the United States and this has an impact of around €80 million over two years in lost turnover,’ said António Portela in an interview with the Lusa news agency in Madrid.
BIAL's executive chairman emphasised that, with this negative impact, closing this year with figures similar to those for 2023 means that the company is ‘growing in the rest to compensate for this loss in the United States’.
‘It's a year that's going well. We're even slightly above what we expected,’ he said.
According to the company's own figures, BIAL had a turnover of €337.4 million in 2023, a 9% increase from 2022.
Portugal accounted for 26% of turnover in 2023, a 4% increase compared with 2022.
The US market also accounted for 26% of the company's turnover last year, followed by Spain (24%).
BIAL, which is 100 years old this year, has products in more than 50 countries, with sales in international markets accounting for 75% of the company's turnover.
In Spain, where António Portela was participating in the ‘Inspira Portugal, 50 years on’ conference, BIAL had a turnover of around €85 million last year and expects to be close to €90 million by 2024, he said.
‘And next year or in two years, we'll reach €100 million in Spain. It's a good expectation for growth,’ he said.
BIAL entered Spain in 1998, buying Ifidesa Aristegui in Bilbao (Basque Country).
BIAL Spain is the company's oldest subsidiary in Europe.
Concerning internationalisation, António Portela said that the aim at the moment is to ‘consolidate the markets’ where the company is already present and to ‘expand its presence in Europe’.
‘Consolidate, increase our presence. We want to be the leading neuroscience company in Europe,’ said António Portela.
MP/ADB / ADB.
Lusa
