We have recently presented our annual results for 2021. These results are a source of pride for us, since they have exceeded our expectations. Laboratorios Rovi’s operating revenue rose 54% to 648.7 million euros, mainly due to the strength of the contract manufacturing business, which grew by 189%, and the specialty pharmaceuticals business, whose sales increased by 17%.

In financial terms, Rovi increased its EBITDA by 115% to 202.9 million euros in 2021. Furthermore, net profit rose to 153.1 million euros, representing a rise of 151% in comparison with the 2020 figure (61.1 million euros).

What are the keys to these figures? Four main levers contributed to growth:

• The enoxaparin biosimilar, which grew by 22% to 124 million euros.
• Bemiparin, whose sales rose 22% to 124 million euros.
• Neparvis®, with a 30% growth in sales, which rose to 38.5 million euros.
• The contract manufacturing business, whose sales increased 189%, totalling 264.7 million euros.

In 2021, Rovi played a fundamental role in providing support to the manufacture of the mRNA Covid-19 vaccine for countries outside the United States. In this respect, in February 2022, we announced that our agreement with Moderna would be extended to 10 years to increase Rovi’s compounding, aseptic filling, inspection and packaging capacities at the Madrid, San Sebastián de los Reyes and Alcalá de Henares facilities. At Rovi, we are working to contribute all our experience as a contract manufacturer of high-technological-value injectables to the solution of this pandemic and we are confident of our ability to participate in the production of future mRNA medicines.

Another important milestone that was reached at the end of 2021 was the inclusion of Rovi on the Ibex-35. It was the company with the greatest growth on the Ibex, with an increase of more than 90% in the share price due to the company’s huge growth in 2021.

In 2021, Rovi’s investment effort rose 15% to 27.4 million euros, placing Rovi among the first fifteen Spanish companies in R&D expenditure. This investment was made in our pipeline of specialty pharmaceuticals with ISM® technology, which was created by our laboratories and is intended to change and provide alternatives for administering drugs.

The beginning of the year was also accompanied by the European Commission’s authorization of our pharmaceutical Okedi®, a medicine that we had been developing for over 12 years to treat schizophrenia in adults. It is expected to be launched in the second quarter of 2022 and we are very close to also launching it in the United States, a market that totals 6,000 dollars.

This reinforces our commitment to our stakeholders and we take great pride in achieving  what we have been “promising”, which, in this case, has materialised two years earlier than forecast. The pandemic has not altered our strategic plan. We are still concentrating on positioning the company as a large pan-European pharmaceutical company, focused on continuing to help millions of patients with our low-molecular-weight heparin franchise and, likewise, through new treatments based on our own ISM® technological drug-release platform. We are confident that this novel technology will open up new channels for growth. In fact, the pandemic has confirmed that we were heading in the right direction when we bet on including scientific research, innovation and technology among our medium-term growth levers and as a strategy to contribute to improving the treatment of many pathologies.

We at Rovi are very satisfied with these results. We will continue to work on our bet on the research and development of molecules that allow us to furnish doctors and patients worldwide with therapeutic solutions.