Explore our recent stories to see what drives us
Integration excellence in action across Global Operations
Cialis
In June 2025, Grünenthal acquired the commercial rights to Cialis for Brazil, Colombia and Mexico. This strengthened our Men’s Health portfolio and our regional footprint. Cialis will be produced at our site in Santiago, Chile. This will enable the supply of 12 million additional tablets per year. We will also introduce aluminium blister packaging.
This transition is expected to deliver more than €10 million in savings and will be supported by robust supply chain security. Since completing the acquisition, we have significantly advanced this insourcing project. Regulatory submissions are underway and manufacturing validation is on track for 2026. The full transfer of rights and production is expected by July 2026 (pending approvals).
Establishing two state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities for Nexium
Building on our acquisition of the commercial rights for Nexium in Europe, Grünenthal is advancing an ambitious project to simultaneously establish cutting-edge manufacturing sites in two locations: Santiago in Chile and Origgio in Italy. By leveraging our vertical start-up (VSU) model, these facilities will secure Nexium supply for Europe and will also set new standards for operational excellence.
Our teams achieved key milestones for this project in 2025. This included successful laboratory and scale-up trials, as well as validation of analytical methods and submission of a post-approval change-management protocol (PACMP). Major equipment orders are now complete and detailed engineering is finalised. Construction is underway, with both sites expected to be operational in the second half of 2026.
We are also investing in advanced training for our teams, while introducing innovative technologies such as laser scanning for 3D facility modelling, advanced manufacturing flow simulation and fluid bed coating. These new capabilities will strengthen our manufacturing excellence and product innovation activities for the future.
This strategic investment is projected to deliver significant financial benefits, with savings of up to €23 million per year.
Qutenza
Grünenthal is driving operational and integration excellence through two major initiatives at our site in Origgio, Italy: Insourcing secondary packaging for the US market and insourcing gel manufacturing technology for Qutenza. Together, these initiatives are expected to generate savings of approximately €5 million a year. In this way, they will make an important contribution to Grünenthal’s long-term success.
Delivering value by bringing secondary packaging in-house
Grünenthal has successfully transferred secondary packaging for Qutenza that is intended for the US market from an external supplier to our site in Origgio, Italy. Around 60,000 units will now be packaged in Origgio each year. This strengthens our internal capabilities and broadens our supply chain control. It also further establishes Origgio as a key hub for global market supply, delivering significant efficiencies and projected savings rising to around €6 million in the next five years.
As part of this shift, new labelling equipment has now been qualified and approved by the Italian regulatory agency (AIFA), while process validation is complete for all presentations. We delivered the first commercial batches of around 23,000 units to the US in 2025.
Expanding capabilities with Qutenza Gel
In 2025, we insourced gel manufacturing technology at our site in Origgio for the first time. Our teams are now using this technology to produce Qutenza gel. This expands Origgio’s product development capabilities into topical gel formulations, strengthening our manufacturing network and opening up opportunities for future growth.
Regular supply to European, US and Canadian markets is planned to begin in 2027. We expect to supply 56 tons of Qutenza gel per year, which is equivalent to approximately 1.1 million tubes. Key milestones achieved in 2025 included installing and verifying equipment, as well as fully validating analytical methods and initiating the first technical trials. The completion of the technical trial batches and validation of the full manufacturing process is planned for early 2026.