Author: Gonzalo Alvaro

The Universidad Pontificia Comillas, in collaboration with Laboratorios Farmacéuticos ROVI, has created a new Chair of Innovation and Digital Mental Health to respond to the psychological effects that digitalization may have on society. Additionally, this Chair will also analyze how technology can help improve mental health, life quality, and the care provided to all people.

“We are at a historical moment because the global effects of the pandemic have caused great psychological damage to our society and because, for the first time, one of the primary objectives of the Government and public and private institutions is to allocate human and financial resources to improve mental health in Spain”, said Dr. Lucía Halty, the Chair’s director.

The new Chair at Comillas has the support of Laboratorios Farmacéuticos ROVI. For its Chairman and CEO, Juan López-Belmonte, “this project represents an opportunity to obtain deeper knowledge of the impact of the new technologies on mental health in our society. In addition, it allows us to enhance the dialogue in the academic, healthcare and workplace contexts regarding current models for mental health detection, preventionprevention, and intervention.

The COVID-19 crisis has shown that the traditional model of access to healthcare resources, particularly psychological resources, needs to evolve. Companies and institutions should redesign the system and introduce new technologies to ensure progress and continuing improvement. Technology and mental health should go hand in hand to improve the care that people receive.

The Chair of Innovation and Mental Health at Comillas spans a good number of faculties and university disciplines. Although the greatest weight of the Chair will be borne by the Faculty of Human and Social Sciences (Comillas CIHS), the Faculties of Engineering (Comillas ICAI) and Law (Comillas ICADE), as well as the San Juan de Dios School of Nursiing and Physiotherapy, will also be involved. Thus, mental health will be approached from a multi-disciplinary holistic perspective that seeks to ensure people’s wellbeing in a digitalised environment

Don’t miss the whole story behind the ROVI’s Forest and the reforestation of the Valley of Dreams.

Don’t miss the video we have prepared for you. Click on the following image to watch it.

Laboratorios Farmacéuticos ROVI announces its incorporation as a member of the General Assembly of the Spanish Association of Biosimilar Medicines, BioSim. This is another milestone for both entities.

Laboratorios Farmacéuticos ROVI is a group of the pharmaceutical sector of Spanish origin, specialized, fully integrated and dedicated to the research, development, manufacture under license and commercialization of small molecules and biological specialties. Since 2017, the group has boosted its international presence thanks to the commercialization of its enoxaparin biosimilar. For ROVI, joining Biosim means joining “the work of an essential actor in the dissemination of knowledge and the promotion of biosimilar medicines in Spain, quality therapeutic alternatives that contribute to the sustainability of the health system”.

For BioSim, for its part, the incorporation of ROVI represents an advance in the representativeness of the Association as a reference for laboratories that research, develop, produce and/or market biosimilar medicines, with common principles and objectives. Thus, through different initiatives, both organizations will continue to promote the use of biosimilar medicines and transfer their value to the administration, health professionals, patients and the general public.

In the words of Encarna Cruz, CEO of BioSim “ROVI, as one of the pioneering companies that develops and produces biosimilars in Spain and markets internationally, is an example of a company that bets and encourages national employment and biosimilars. From BioSim we thank you for joining the Association and we believe that it can enrich the debates and decisions that are taken from now on. ”

This incorporation, in addition, adds the president of BioSim, Joaquín Rodrigo, increases the representativeness of the Association that currently has companies that occupy more than 95% of the Spanish biosimilar market. This allows us to strengthen our role as an interlocutor before administrations, managers, health professionals and patients. With its incorporation, the company wants to contribute its experience in the bioisimilars market. “Our enoxaparin biosimilar has become one of the main value generators of the group. We started its commercialization in 2017 and, since then, it has been a great boost to ROVI’s internationalization strategy and we hope that it will continue to be a lever of growth for our company in the coming years, ”explains Pedro Carretero, director of Hospitals and Institutional Relations of ROVI Laboratories and representative of the group in Biosim.

To improve the vending service, a change of supplier has been made from Selecta to Alliance Vending.

Due to this change, the old cards will be withdrawn and the new ones will be issued. For this reason, it is recommended that the balance of the old cards be used up before the withdrawal deadlines:

The new vending machines will be located in the canteen areas of each headquarters. We hope you enjoy them.

Visit ROVI’s facilities, solve the challenges and find the albarellos.

ROVI presented its ISM® technology platform at the meeting of the Innovation Committee of the Institute for the Development and Integration of Healthcare (IDIS Foundation). The debate was attended by Pedro Carretero Trillo, Director of Hospitals and Institutional Relations; Ibon Gutierro Adúriz, Director of R&D, and Javier Martínez González, Medical Director.

Throughout the colloquium, a presentation was made showing the advances throughout history in relation to long-acting injectables and the importance of achieving a reduction in symptomatology as quickly as oral treatment. In this sense, the results of ISM® Technology, designed to combine the sequential effect of three different mechanisms to control the release of active ingredients, were highlighted, as it provides therapeutic levels as fast as oral medication and maintains them in a sustained and predictable way.

Since 2011, the “Equal Pay Day” has been celebrated in Spain every 22 February, taking as a reference a European Parliament Resolution on the application of the principle of equal pay for men and women (2008/2012(INI)).
men and women (2008/2012(INI)).

The aim of this day is to highlight the fact that men and women should receive equal pay for work of equal value. Currently, despite the regulatory development and the great progress made in terms of equal treatment and opportunities between women and men in recent years, both at European and national level, equal pay has not been consolidated.

At ROVI we are committed to the fulfilment of SDG 5 on Gender Equality and the objectives set out in our Equality Plan, with a firm commitment to guarantee equal pay for the entire workforce. For this reason, we carry out annual salary studies that seek to detect differences in salary between men and women for work of equal value in order to be able to correct them if they occur.

In this respect, in accordance with our values, the ROVI Group’s management works actively to ensure that there are no inequalities of any kind within the company.

• Operating revenue increased by 26% to 817.7 million euros driven by (i) the strength of the contract manufacturing organization (“CMO”) business, which grew by 52%, and (ii) the specialty pharmaceutical business, where sales rose 8%. 
• Sales of the heparin franchise (Low Molecular Weight Heparins (LMWH) and other heparins increased by 9% to 264.0 million euros. Sales of the enoxaparin biosimilar increased 23% to 152.9 million euros.
• EBITDA increased by 37% to 278.9 million euros.
• Net profit increased by 30% to 199.7 million euros.
• Launch of Okedi® (Risperidone ISM®) in Germany (April 2022), United Kingdom (July 2022) and Spain (September 2022) for the treatment of schizophrenia in adults.
• On October 4th, 2022, ROVI presented Glycopepton Biotech, S.L., a joint venture with Càrniques Celrà, S.L. and Grupo Empresarial Costa, S.L., that involves the creation of one of the first national structures for self-sufficiency in heparins. The project involves the construction of a facility at the Industrial Logistics Platform of Fraga (Huesca), which will produce compounds of high biological value that derive from the intestinal mucosa of pigs.
• ROVI’s ESG aspects have been evaluated by Sustainalytics, having obtained an “ESG Risk Rating 2021” of 17.3, which places the company at low risk (between 10 and 20). ROVI has attained the first position out of 458 companies in the sub-industry “pharmaceuticals”.
• ROVI will propose to the General Shareholders’ Meeting a dividend of 1.2938 euros per share charged to the 2022 profit and retained earnings. This proposed dividend would mean an increase of 35% on the dividend charged to the 2021 profit (€0.9556/share) and represents 35% of the net profit for 2022 attributed to the parent company.

OUTLOOK
At the end of 2022, ROVI exceeded the higher end of its operating revenue guidance range (15% – 20%), standing at 26%.
For 2023, ROVI expects its operating revenue to show low-double-digit negative growth on 2022, although a positive growth of between 5% and 10% is expected in comparison with the 2021 figure.

For 2023, ROVI is assuming a new post-pandemic scenario in which COVID-19 would foreseeably be a seasonal disease and, in principle, the vaccine would be administered once a year. For this reason, ROVI expects a stronger second half of the year compared to the first half regarding the CMO business. The first quarter of 2023 is expected to include revenues linked to the production of vaccines in the fourth quarter of 2022 but the second quarter of 2023 is expected to be the lowest quarter in terms of CMO sales.
Nevertheless, the  uncertainty related to the evolution of the disease is very high. It is not, therefore, possible to make a precise assessment of the impact that this new scenario could have on its CMO business. Likewise, under the terms of the agreement signed with Moderna in February 2022, ROVI is still investing in increasing the compounding, aseptic filling, inspection, labelling and packaging capacities at its facilities and expects them to be fully installed at the end of 2024. 

Taking account of the aforementioned guidance on a decrease in operating revenue in 2023, as well as the fact that ROVI will continue with its investment policy as stated, it is reasonable to expect that the Company’s profits may also see a downward adjustment in 2023.

On Sunday 5 February, the ROVI Team took part in the eleventh edition of the Fundación Manantial’s Race for Mental Health.

With the objective of raising awareness and promoting mental health through sport, around 50 ROVI employees and more than 2,000 runners ran through the centre of Madrid to break down stigma and promote social inclusion. The funds raised will go to Fundación Manantial’s employment projects, which facilitate the inclusion of more than 300 people in the labour market.

Despite the cold, our colleagues were able to enjoy together one of the most beautiful races at the beginning of the year. And to share their experience, they wanted to share with us the video of this edition, don’t miss it!

This Monday, the Romanian Minister of Health, Alexandru Rafila, visited the ROVI plant in Alcalá de Henares. The Chief of Staff of the Romanian Health Ministry, Raluca Puiu, and the Romanian ambassador to Spain, George Gabriel Bologan, were also present. The Romanian authorities were accompanied by ROVI’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Juan López-Belmonte, the Industrial Manager, Miguel Ángel Ortega, and the Manager of the Alcalá de Henares plant, Pilar García-Morato Saro.

The ROVI plant in Alcalá de Henares is one of the Laboratory’s three plants engaged in the CMO (contract manufacturing organisation) business, the purpose of which is to respond to the growing need for pharmaceutical companies to outsource their manufacturing processes. The Alcalá plant specialises in the production of oral solid forms and has become a centre of excellence for the group’s packaging of both solid products and injectables.

ROVI is one of the main sector companies in the high value-added CMO business, with exports to over 50 countries. The majority of its sales are international and it is highly technologically specialised in the area of manufacturing vaccines, biological products and biosimilars, all of which are products with a recognised therapeutic value.

During the visit, the Romanian Health Minister, Alexandru Rafila, observed the plant’s manufacturing processes in detail and met with Juan López-Belmonte, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of ROVI.