Orion reports “steady growth” for 2007

Timo Lappalainen, chief executive officer of Orion Group, has reported “steady growth” in net sales as the Finnish pharmaceutical company released its full year 2007 financial results.

Mr Lappalainen illustrated that the firm had shown a continued strong performance from the previous year with all five business divisions “performing well financially” and building on Orion’s business strategy.

Orion’s net sales for the financial year 2007 reached 683.6 million euros (511.3 million pounds), an increase of 6.6 per cent on the previous year.

Mr Lappalainen went on to highlight the successful growth in its product portfolio, indicating that a number of in-licensing agreements had added over 50 new products to its Speciality Products and Animal Health businesses.

He added that in its Proprietary Products business, Orion had seen strong growth with continuing sales of Stalevo and Comtess/Comtan for Parkinson’s disease.

Commenting on the company’s pipeline, the Orion chief executive underscored the importance of the Stride-PD clinical research programme for Stalevo with a phase III study now completed with a positive outcome.

“The growth of our operations in 2007 in the central and eastern European markets gives us reason to continue our efforts to grow,” Mr Lappalainen added.

Earlier this month, Orion confirmed that it faced a new challenge by Indian generics firm Sun Pharmaceutical Industries over its proprietary drug Stalevo in the US.