Menarini exceeds 4 billion in revenues and launches a drug against cancer in the USA

Menarini exceeds the 4 billion mark in turnover and is preparing to launch a drug against breast cancer in the United States which, according to analysts, could generate more than 1 billion dollars in sales. The Florentine pharmaceutical company controlled entirely by the Aleotti family (the brothers Lucia and Alberto Giovanni) archives a 2022 full of satisfactions, despite the heavy influences of the covid.
With a turnover of 4.154 billion euros (+6% compared to 2021), an Ebidta of around 400 million (the margin has decreased compared to last year) and 17,800 employees, the pharmaceutical multinational made in Italy and present in 140 countries is growing in production and, above all, wants to continue doing so. Thus, while looking at the results achieved in the United States (where the Food and Drug Administration has just authorized a first-in-class oral treatment against metastatic breast cancer), it wants to develop further in countries where it is already present – such as China, where last year it had a turnover of 200 million – but also in Japan and Brazil where it is not present today.
It is Lucia Aleotti, a member of the Board of Menarini who illustrates some of the most significant innovations and successes of the company, including the entry of the Italian group into the very difficult US market, thanks to the acquisition of Stemline Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company acquired in 2020 , a New York-based company focused on introducing innovative treatments for cancer patients. And the results have arrived.
«The US FDA – says Lucia Aleotti – officially approved, about a month ago, the elacestrant molecule (Orserdu) for the treatment of a subtype of advanced or metastatic breast cancer. It is a selective estrogen receptor degrader (SERD) for the treatment of postmenopausal women and adult men with advanced or metastatic breast cancer. It is the first and only oral drug to have successfully completed the last step of clinical development (phase III) and to be approved by a regulatory authority. The drug will then be available in the USA through Menarini Stemline».
And in Italy? “If the authorization procedures proceed smoothly, as we hope – he explains – it could be available by the end of 2024”. Not only. “According to analysts – continues Lucia Aleotti – it is a potential “blockbuster”, or a drug that could generate more than 1 billion dollars in sales”.
Statistics say that in the US about 40,000 people fall ill with this type of cancer every year, especially women. Elcin Barker Ergun, CEO of the Menarini group adds: «Ours is the first ever therapy for patients with advanced or metastatic ER+/HER2 breast cancer with ESR1 mutations. Not only that: ours is the first cancer drug from an Italian company approved in the United States since 1990. We are very proud to be able to offer a targeted therapy that can satisfy a high unresolved therapeutic need».
Last year Menarini had to face the expiry of some patents and the same will happen in 2023. «However, we remain optimistic – comments Aleotti – because we have made important investments in research that will bear fruit. But I think it is the duty of entrepreneurs to also highlight the critical points: one is the supply chain. We have all seen the struggles with commodities over the past few months. A sovereign country is a free country.” And he assures that the group will bring part of the chemical and pharmaceutical production back to Italy. «But that’s not enough – adds the president Eric Cornut – In today’s complicated geopolitical scenario, the fact that Europe depends for more than 70% of its pharmaceutical supplies from India and China makes it fragile. At the European level, Italy has a strong position, but perhaps a narrow vision. We have to look at the supply chain, at research, at universities: it is a strategic asset for the country, which must be strengthened».
Aleotti is convinced of this: “Italy can become a driving force for European politics: it has the numbers to be the first pharmaceutical hub in Europe”.