Chairman and CEO’s introduction

When I founded Octapharma 39 years ago, I could never have anticipated that we would grow into a global company of more than 9,000 employees around the world, working together to provide lifesaving medications to tens of thousands of patients every year. Our work has never felt more relevant than over the past two years. It has been extremely gratifying to see how everyone at Octapharma has gone the extra mile during the pandemic, to be there for the people who truly need us.

In this year’s report, we again speak to some of those patients whose lives are being impacted by our products. The stories of Debbie, Kellie Jo, Terézia and József remind us of the impact that our products have every day on our patients all around the world.

Among our achievements in 2021, we received important regulatory approvals. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the use of octagam® 10% for the treatment of adult dermatomyositis. The decision was quickly followed by other jurisdictions, providing a safe, proven treatment option for patients with this rare autoimmune disorder. The FDA also approved our manufacturing site in Springe as an additional site for Fraction II production. This is a very important step as it is the first FDA approval for our Springe site.

We also made good progress with several other clinical trials in 2021, including our PRO-SID (Primary Infection Prophylaxis with panzyga® in Secondary Immunodeficiency in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia (CLL)) study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of immunoglobulin (IVIg) for primary prophylaxis for infection control in patients with CLL. We also commenced a clinical trial with a new 20% subcutaneous immunoglobulin, and enrolled our first patients in a phase III, multi-centre superiority study to compare the effectiveness of panzyga® versus placebo in patients with paediatric acuteonset neuropsychiatric syndrome (PANS).

Our patient-centred research approach was once again visible with the publication of a paper reporting the main findings of the ProCID study into the efficacy and safety of panzyga® in patients with chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP) in BRAIN, a leading medical journal.

Throughout 2021, we have continued to engage with a growing number of key opinion leaders in our industry on our newly launched science hub and through our participation in many global congresses.

In addition, we continue to invest heavily in opening new plasma donation centres in the USA. We now operate more than 180 plasma donation centres across our fleet in Germany and the USA. We have also launched a range of new initiatives to increase capacities at our production sites across Europe as part of an ambitious plan to grow our business.

Despite the significant challenges posed by the ongoing pandemic to all aspects of our business, we managed to achieve revenues of €2.51 billion and a net income of €438 million, representing growth of 4.9% and 16.7% respectively over the 2020 results.

As I look forward to 2022 and beyond, I believe that Octapharma is well placed to continue to grow well into the future.

Wolfgang Marguerre

Chairman and CEO, Octapharma Group