In May, Siegfried has announced a further expansion of its ophthalmic drug manufacturing site in El Masnou near Barcelona, Spain. The latest expansion will significantly increase the site's sterile eye drop manufacturing capacity, in response to growing customer demand. The new capacity will be available for customers beginning in 2027.

This additional expansion complements the company's ongoing initiative to increase production capacity for sterile eye care ointments, which is expected to be available to customers by 2026. It also includes the acquisition of state-of-the-art equipment compliant with the European Union's Annex 1 regulations for the manufacture of sterile medicinal products.

Established in 1925, Siegfried's El Masnou site has a century long expertise in pharmaceutical manufacturing with deep expertise in ophthalmic formulations. The facility specializes in eye drops and sterile ointments, as well as products for nasal and otic use. The site supplies more than 100 million treatments annually to patients across the globe.

Marcel Imwinkelried, CEO: "We see continued strong demand for ophthalmic products and the expansion of our El Masnou site will provide valuable additional capacity for our customers. This expansion enhances our global ophthalmic manufacturing footprint and enables us, together with our ophthalmics site in Irvine, US, to effectively serve Europe and the US."

In 2024, Siegfried continued its trajectory of profitable growth, more than offsetting substantial headwinds. Siegfried's performance was driven by strong underlying business with above-market growth, supported by strong customer demand from existing and new small and large customers.

Net sales in 2024 reached CHF 1,294.6 million, an increase of 3.0% in local currencies and 1.8% in CHF (2023: CHF 1,271.5 million). The Drug Substances cluster contributed CHF 891.9 million, an increase of 4.5% in local currencies (3.7% in CHF), more than offsetting destocking and topline effects from portfolio management. Despite the phasing out of significant vaccine business, sales in Drug Products amounted to CHF 402.7 million, in line with the prior year in local currencies (-0.1%) and -2.1% in CHF, with increased momentum particularly at the Barcelona sites.