Early history

Almirall SA was founded in 1944 in Spain. In 1979, the company launched gastroprokinetic clebopride in Spain, the first product from the company’s internal R&D team. In 1984, the business launched antacid product, almagate, in Spain, as well as anti-inflammatory piketoprofen in 1985 and antihistamine ebastine and cinitapride in 1985. In the same year, Almirall opened its first subsidiary, based in Belgium. In 1992 the company launched aceclofenac and a year later opened its second foreign subsidiary, in Portugal. The company's new headquarters were opened in Barcelona, in 1994. In 1997 Almirall and Prodesfarma merged their interests.^[7]

Further expansion

In 2000 the FDA approved anti-migraine agent almotriptan. A year later the company opened its Mexican subsidiary as well as acquiring its French affiliate. Beginning in 2002, Almirall opened a series of European based subsidiaries; Italy (2002), Germany (2003), Austria, Poland, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Switzerland (2008), Nordic Countries (2010) ^[8] and Netherlands (2013).

In 2005 the business acquired the commercial rights for Sativex in Europe for the treatment of spasticity associated to multiple sclerosis. In 2006, the company opened its new R&D Centre based in Sant Feliu de Llobregat as well as the acquisition of the Centre of Excellence for Inhalation Technology.

In 2007, the company floated on the Spanish stock market, as well as acquiring European dermatology specialist, Hermal. The company also acquired a portfolio of eight products from Shire plc.

In 2011, Almirall launched Actikerall prescribed for the local treatment of actinic keratosis.

In 2012, Almirall opened its first North America subsidiary, based in Canada^[8] and launched aclidinium, prescribed for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), in Europe under the brand Eklira Genuair and Bretaris Genuair and in the United States under the brand Tudorza Pressair. The business also launched Monovo, for the treatment of inflammatory skin diseases such as psoriasis.

Medical dermatology

Almirall began a concentrated focus on medical dermatology in 2013^[9], following the acquisition of another specialist dermatology company, Aqua Pharmaceuticals. The company launched linaclotide in Europe (Constella) for irritable bowel syndrome with constipation (IBS-C) and opened its Netherlands subsidiary.^[8]

In 2014 Almirall divested its rights to its respiratory franchise to Astrazeneca focussing on the dermatology, later in 2015 declaring its strategic intention to become a leading pharmaceutical company in the field of dermatology and continuing with its expansion by acquiring Poli Group Holding and ThermiGen LLC in 2016^[10].

In January 2020, the company announced it would acquire Bioniz Therapeutic.^[11][12] In 2020, Almirall earned 74.3 million euros, 30% less than the previous year. The following year it closed with a loss of 40.9 million. According to the annual accounts, the losses were justified by the accounting impairment of various products, although sales grew by 2.5%, driven by the dermatology business. In February 2022 it was announced that Carlos Gallardo would replace his father, Jorge Gallardo, as president of the company.^[13]