Serono anticipates growth
Serono aims to boost annual sales by 20 per cent a year and is looking for small acquisitions, chief executive Erneston Bertarelli said.
Bertarelli told the Swiss business newspaper HandelsZeitung in an interview published on Wednesday that he hoped the multiple sclerosis (MS) treatment Rebif would be launched in the key United States market early next year.
Asked if Serono would be able to maintain its 20 per cent growth rate, Bertarelli said: “Yes, I am sure of this, primarily in the short-term thanks to Rebif.”
“It will be somewhat harder for the time horizon of five to ten years, but when I see what we invest in research then I know we will grow strongly in the future as well.”
Legal maneuvers
The Geneva-based group, which is Europe’s biggest biotechnology company, has been trying to overturn the orphan drug protection that US group Biogen’s MS drug enjoys in the US market. If it succeeds, this would unleash a growth spurt, said Bertarelli.
“We hope the launch will happen at the start of next year. But we have done our homework at this stage. Nothing will stand in the way of a launch,” he said.
Bertarelli said Serono’s main goal was to grow organically, noting fertility drugs and neurology products would remain core businesses but it would seek to expand its product lines.
Researchers were making good progress on Alzheimer’s disease and would be studying inflammatory autoimmune disorders.
But he said Serono was also open to acquisitions.
“We have in mind a series of smaller purchases in the area of $10 million to $50 million (SFr16.6-83.0 million),” Bertarelli said.
“We don’t want to spend a lot of money in one go,” he added.
swissinfo with agencies
In compliance with the JTI standards
More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.