Solvay Pharmaceuticals companies concentrate on four therapeutic areas: psychiatry, gastroenterology, Hormone Replacement Therapies and cardiology. Solvay Pharmaceuticals aims for a global market presence, and a growthrate higher than the market average. We strive to create new products and grow from inside the organization through a high level of investment in active discovery and development programs. New products and growth from outside the company are obtained by entering into strategic business alliances, and by acquisitions of products, product lines, or companies.
| Growth of existing products | ||
| Development of new products | ||
| Acquisition of new products | ||
| Geographical expansion | ||
| – US | ||
| – Japan | ||
| – Worldwide | ||
| Strategic alliances in marketing and R&D |
Growth of existing products in 4 therapeutic areas:
| WORLDSALES IN MIO EUR | 99/98 x% | |
| Gastroenterology e.g. CREON® DICETEL® | 428 128 31 | + 5% + 13% + 6% |
| Psychiatry e.g. LUVOX® | 370 228 | + 14% + 22% |
| Hormone replacement therapies e.g. ESTRATEST® ESTRATAB® PROMETRIUM® | 389 124 33 25 | + 24% + 29% + 68% > 100% |
| Cardiology e.g. TEVETEN® ACEON® Physiotens | 99 About 20 Mio EUR in Q4/99 31 | + 37% – + 32% |
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Development of new products
Research at Solvay Pharmaceuticals is aimed at introducing highly innovative products that bring important improvements in quality of life to patients and support their healthcare professionals. Expenditures in these areas are above industry average in order to secure strong internal growth. The R&D budget was an impressive 17% of sales in the pharmaceutical sector, 229 MEURO. A large number of projects in all four therapeutic areas are currently under investigation [see our pipeline overview] . The agreements with ArQule (combinatorial chemistry), OSI (automatic screening) and Innogenetics (genome research) are yielding positive results.
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Acquisition of new products
Solvay Pharmaceuticals has an active business development and licensing program to complement and enrich the Solvay Pharmaceuticals portfolio. Solvay acquires projects, products, product lines, and companies when significant synergy can be expected. With its excellent position and reputation in Europe and growing presence in the U.S. and the Far East, Solvay Pharmaceuticals companies are solid partners for licensing products, or for assistance in development, regulatory and marketing matters.
Solvay Pharmaceuticals actively searches for products that fit its four key therapeutic areas: gastroenterology, cardiology, women’s health, and psychiatry. These product may already be registered in some major countries and do not necessarily have to be globally registered. Products that have not yet been registered but are for instance in the final stage of Clinical phase III are considered if they can be launched in the United States and/or Europe.
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Geographical expansion
Solvay Pharmaceuticals aims for a global marketing presence with a higher than average growth rate in all markets. Solvay Pharmaceuticals is already well established in Europe. It has sped up expansion in the USA, Asia Pacific, and Eastern Europe.
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– US
The US organization has quadrupled sales figures in the last four years. The salesforce grew from 300 salesreps in 1996 to over 1,000 in the year 2000. An impressive number of new products have been in-licensed, and recently Unimed Pharmaceuticals Inc. was acquired to increase marketing strength in the primary care market, and optimize the launch of newly acquired TEVETEN® and ACEON®.
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– Japan
In Japan a collaboration was formed with two local partners for the antidepressant LUVOX®, adding up to a salesforce of more than 1,700 detailing the promising product.
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– Worldwide
Last year Solvay Pharmaceuticals set up commercial organizations in South Africa, Greece, Scandinavia and the Philippines. At the same time, sales doubled in Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.
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Strategic alliances in marketing and Research and Development
| – | Arqule: combinatorial chemistry |
| – | OSI: high throughput screening |
| – | Innogenetics: new targets for drug discovery |
| – | Pharmacia & Upjohn for LUVOX® |
| – | Meiji-Seika in Japan (LUVOX®/DEPROMEL®) |
| – | Fujisawa in Japan (LUVOX®/DEPROMEL®) |
| – | Byk Gulden in Canada (PANTOLOC®) |
| – | SmithKline Beecham in the USA (FAMVIR®) |
| – | Berna for marketing, manufacturing and research activities in influenza vaccines |
| – | Duramed and Solvay’s co-promotion of 3 women’s-health products (CENESTIN®, ESTRATEST®, PROMETRIUM®) |
| – | With Aventis in Germany and Orion in Finland for TEVETEN® |