| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| SIX: VIFN | |
| ISIN | CH0364749348 |
| Industry | Pharmaceutical |
| Founded | 1927 [1] |
| Headquarters | |
Areas served | Worldwide |
Key people | Hervé Gisserot (General Manager) [2] |
| Revenue |  CHF 1.75 billion (2021) [3] |
| Website | www |
CSL Vifor is a global specialty pharmaceuticals company in the treatment areas of iron deficiency, dialysis, nephrology & rare disease. It is headquartered in Switzerland and consists of CSL Vifor, Vifor Fresenius Medical Care Renal Pharma (VFMCRP) and Sanifit Therapeutics.
CSL Vifor is active in the treatment of iron deficiency and iron deficiency anaemia. [17] The Group also has a focus on the management of conditions in nephrology, cardiology and rare diseases. Iron deficiency treatments Ferinject and Injectafer were accountable for more than a third of its revenues in 2021. [3]
The dialysis segment with the Erythropoiesis-Stimulating Agents Mircera [18] (Methoxy polyethylene glycol-epoetin beta) and Retacrit (Epoetin alfa-epbx) as well as the phosphate binder Velphoro (Sucroferric oxyhydroxide) has a similarly high turnover as the iron deficiency area, which also includes the orally administered treatment Maltofer (iron polymaltose). The potassium binder Veltassa (Patiromer) is the most selling treatment in the nephrology segment. [19]
CSL Vifor is a member of a number of trade associations that advocate on behalf of the pharmaceutical industry and for the policy positions commonly shared, this includes the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA). [20] CSL Vifor has formed collaborations with pharmaceutical companies like American Regent, Roche, Fresenius Medical Care, Fresenius Kabi [21] and Pfizer. It has also partnered with biotechs such as Akebia, Angion Biomedica, Cara Therapeutics, ChemoCentryx and Travere Therapeutics. [22]
CSL Vifor is present in North and South America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific and is active in over 100 countries all around the world. [23] R&D sites of the group are located in Switzerland. [24] The company is headquartered in St. Gallen where its core manufacturing capabilities on active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) production of its iron therapies are concentrated. [25] The operational headquarters for sales, marketing, medicine and registration are located in Glattbrugg. [18] CSL Vifor maintains a research site on iron deficiency in the Bio-Technopark in Schlieren. The Zürich-based subsidiary Inositec is an ETH spin-off. Sanifit Therapeutics is based in Palma de Mallorca. [13] In China, Vifor Fresenius Kabi is among the top 10 multinational pharmaceutical companies as a market leader in clinical nutrition, anesthesia and nephrology. [21]
CSL Vifor develops, manufactures and markets pharmaceutical products. [26] The Group's businesses include CSL Vifor, focused on iron deficiency and iron deficiency anaemia, and Vifor Fresenius Medical Care Renal Pharma, focused on kidney disease patients, including anaemia, mineral and bone management, cardio-renal conditions, and rare diseases. [23] The second joint company of CSL Vifor with Fresenius is Vifor Fresenius Kabi focusing on marketing iron deficiency drugs in China. [27] CSL Vifor includes also Sanifit Therapeutics from Spain active in the field of calcification disorders in Chronic Kidney Disease. [28] Nephtera is a joint venture with Evotec to build a nephrology therapeutic pipeline. [29]
Iron deficiency is a condition in which iron availability is insufficient to meet body needs. It affects one out of three women of reproductive age worldwide. [30] CSL Vifors first treatment in this area dates back to the pioneering work of pharmacist Caspar Friedrich Hausmann in 1872 in St. Gallen. Iron-deficiency anemia, [22] inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), chronic heart failure (CHF) [22] and patient blood management (PBM) [22] are conditions treated by iron-based products of CSL Vifor.
Besides Iron, the Swiss company focusses on the therapeutic areas Dialysis, Nephrology and Rare Diseases. Vifor Fresenius Medical Care Renal Pharma (VFMCRP), the joint company with Fresenius Medical Care since 2010, gives CSL Vifor access to a network of dialysis centers. [23] It is active in the treatment of chronic kidney disease (CKD), [31] chronic kidney disease-associated pruritus, [32] renal anemia [33] and hyperphosphatemia. [23]
In the therapeutic area nephrology and rare disease, CSL Vifor specializes on hyperkalemia, [23] secondary hyperparathyroidism, [34] ANCA-associated vasculitis, [25] beta-thalassemia [35] and sickle cell disease, [36] CKD-associated peripheral artery disease [25] and aortic valve stenosis, [13] [25] focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, [25] IgA nephropathy [25] and cardiac surgery-associated Acute kidney injury (CSA-AKI). [22]
Apart from its own manufactured iron products, CSL Vifor enters partnerships and is in-licensing products at an advanced stage of development additionally to its own research and development (R&D). CSL Vifor has concluded cooperation and licensing agreements with both large pharmaceutical companies and smaller biotech companies. [25]
Commercialized Products [25]
Pipeline products [25]
Nephrology is a specialty for both adult internal medicine and pediatric medicine that concerns the study of the kidneys, specifically normal kidney function and kidney disease, the preservation of kidney health, and the treatment of kidney disease, from diet and medication to renal replacement therapy. The word "renal" is an adjective meaning "relating to the kidneys", and its roots are French or late Latin. Whereas according to some opinions, "renal" and "nephro" should be replaced with "kidney" in scientific writings such as "kidney medicine" or "kidney replacement therapy", other experts have advocated preserving the use of renal and nephro as appropriate including in "nephrology" and "renal replacement therapy", respectively.
Kidney dialysis is the process of removing excess water, solutes, and toxins from the blood in people whose kidneys can no longer perform these functions naturally. This is referred to as renal replacement therapy. The first successful dialysis was performed in 1943.
Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a type of long-term kidney disease, in which either there is a gradual loss of kidney function occurs over a period of months to years, or abnormal kidney structure. Initially generally no symptoms are seen, but later symptoms may include leg swelling, feeling tired, vomiting, loss of appetite, and confusion. Complications can relate to hormonal dysfunction of the kidneys and include high blood pressure, bone disease, and anemia. Additionally CKD patients have markedly increased cardiovascular complications with increased risks of death and hospitalization.
Ramipril, sold under the brand name Altace among others, is an ACE inhibitor type medication used to treat high blood pressure, heart failure, and diabetic kidney disease. It can also be used as a preventative medication in patients over 55 years old to reduce the risk of having a heart attack, stroke or cardiovascular death in patients shown to be at high risk, such as some diabetics and patients with vascular disease. It is a reasonable initial treatment for high blood pressure. It is taken by mouth.
Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA is a European multinational health care company based in Bad Homburg vor der Höhe, Germany. It provides products and services for dialysis in hospitals, as well as inpatient and outpatient medical care. The company is involved in hospital management and in engineering and services for medical centers and other health care facilities.
Calciphylaxis, also known as calcific uremic arteriolopathy (CUA) or “Grey Scale”, is a rare syndrome characterized by painful skin lesions. The pathogenesis of calciphylaxis is unclear but believed to involve calcification of the small blood vessels located within the fatty tissue and deeper layers of the skin, blood clots, and eventual death of skin cells due to lack of blood flow. It is seen mostly in people with end-stage kidney disease but can occur in the earlier stages of chronic kidney disease and rarely in people with normally functioning kidneys. Calciphylaxis is a rare but serious disease, believed to affect 1-4% of all dialysis patients. It results in chronic non-healing wounds and indicates poor prognosis, with typical life expectancy of less than one year.
CSL Behring is a biopharmaceutical company, manufacturing plasma-derived, and recombination therapeutic products. The company is a combination of Behringwerke, founded in 1904 in Marburg, Germany by Emil von Behring, and the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories (CSL), established in Australia in 1916 to provide vaccines to the people of Australia, as well as other companies acquired since 2004.
Not to be confused with Factor Inhibiting HIF Asparaginyl Hydroxylase Inhibitors
Calcium acetate/magnesium carbonate is a fixed-dose combination drug that contains 110 mg calcium and 60 mg magnesium ions and is indicated as a phosphate binder for dialysis patients with hyperphosphataemia. It is registered by Fresenius Medical Care under the trade names Renepho (Belgium) and OsvaRen.
AMAG Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is an American pharmaceutical company developing products that treat iron deficiency anemia (IDA) in adult patients. The company was a publicly traded company listed on NASDAQ under the symbol "AMAG" until November 2020 when it was acquired by Covis Pharma.
Sucroferric oxyhydroxide, sold under the brand name Velphoro, is a non-calcium, iron-based phosphate binder used for the control of serum phosphorus levels in adults with chronic kidney disease (CKD) on haemodialysis (HD) or peritoneal dialysis (PD). It is used in form of chewable tablets.
Difelikefalin, sold under the brand name Korsuva, is an opioid peptide used for the treatment of moderate to severe itch. It acts as a peripherally-restricted, highly selective agonist of the κ-opioid receptor (KOR).
Galenica AG, headquartered in Bern, is an internationally active Swiss pharmaceutical and logistics company group, named after the ancient physician Galenus. It dates back to the 1927 Collaboration Pharmaceutique SA, a purchasing center for pharmaceutical products founded by 16 pharmacists in Clarens. This was renamed to Galenica AG in 1932 and moved from Vaud's Le Châtelard to Bern. The Galenica shares are listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange and are a component of the SMI MID index.
Roxadustat, sold under the brand name Evrenzo, is an anti-anemia medication. Roxadustat is a HIF prolyl-hydroxylase inhibitor that increases endogenous production of erythropoietin and stimulates production of hemoglobin and red blood cells. It was investigated in clinical trials for the treatment of anemia caused by chronic kidney disease (CKD). It is taken by mouth. The drug was developed by FibroGen, in partnership with AstraZeneca.
Etienne Jean Jornod is a Swiss entrepreneur and manager. He was Chairman of the Board of Directors of the pharmaceutical and logistics group Galenica and the NZZ Mediengruppe.
Dr. Jean-Christophe Leroux is a French-Canadian full professor of Drug Formulation and Delivery at the Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology ETH Zürich. His research is mainly focused on broadening the field of drug delivery, and the development of biodetoxification systems for the treatment of metabolite disorders. Additionally, he has made important contributions to the field of biomaterials for use in drug delivery.
Donald W. Landry is an American scientist who is the Hamilton Southworth Professor of Medicine, Chair of the Department of Medicine at Columbia University and Physician-in-Chief at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Irving Medical Center since 2008. He is also past founding director of the Division of Experimental Therapeutics, and past director of the Division of Nephrology. Landry completed his Ph.D. in organic chemistry with R.B. Woodward at Harvard University in 1979 and then obtained the M.D. degree from Columbia University in 1983. After completing his residency in internal medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School, he returned to Columbia for training as an NIH Physician-Scientist, 1985–90, and has remained as a member of the Columbia faculty.
Ultragenyx is an American biopharmaceutical company involved in the research and development of novel products for treatment of rare and ultra-rare genetic diseases for which there are typically no approved treatments and high unmet medical need. The company works with multiple drug modalities including biologics, small molecule, gene therapies, and ASO and mRNAs in the disease categories of bone, endocrine, metabolic, muscle and CNS diseases.
CRISPR Therapeutics AG is a Swiss–American biotechnology company headquartered in Zug, Switzerland. It was one of the first companies formed to utilize the CRISPR gene editing platform to develop medicines for the treatment of various rare and common diseases. The company has approximately 500 employees and has offices in Zug, Switzerland, Boston, Massachusetts, San Francisco, California and London, United Kingdom. Its manufacturing facility in Framingham, Massachusetts won the Facilities of the Year Award (FOYA) award in 2022. The company’s lead program, exagamglogene autotemcel, or exa-cel, was granted regulatory approval by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in December 2023.
Relief Therapeutics is a Swiss biopharmaceutical company based in Geneva. The company focuses on developing drugs for serious diseases with few or no existing treatment options. Its lead compound, RLF-100, is a synthetic form of a natural peptide that protects the lung. The company was incorporated as Relief Therapeutics Holdings AG (RFLB.S) and listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange in 2016.
