Galderma SA is an American-Swiss pharmaceutical company specializing in dermatological treatments and

skin care Skin care or skincare is the practice of maintaining and improving the health and appearance of the skin. It includes washing, moisturizing, protecting from the sun, and treating skin problems like acne and dryness. Skin care can help prevent i ...

products. Formerly a subsidiary of L'Oréal and

Nestlé Nestlé S.A. ( ) is a Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland. It has been the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other metrics, since 20 ...

, it was acquired by a consortium of private institutional investors in 2019 and remained under their ownership until its IPO in 2024. Galderma was formed in 1981 as a joint venture between

and L'Oréal, and later became a wholly owned subsidiary of Nestlé. Since 2019, it has belonged to an investment consortium. The company, headed by president and CEO Flemming Ørnskov (ex-

Shire Shire () is a traditional term for an administrative division of land in Great Britain and some other English-speaking countries. It is generally synonymous with county (such as Cheshire and Worcestershire). British counties are among the oldes ...

), has 33 sites in 100 countries with a worldwide network of distributors and employs more than 4,600 people. The headquarters is based in

Zug Zug (Standard German: , Alemannic German: ; ; ; ; )Named in the 16th century. is the largest List of cities in Switzerland, town and capital of the Swiss canton of Zug. Zug is renowned as a hub for some of the wealthiest individuals in the wor ...

, Switzerland.

History

The origins of Galderma date back to 1961 and the founding of the Owen dermatology company in

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

, Texas, USA by M. Owen. In 1979, Hans Schaefer founded the International Center for Dermatological Research (CIRD) in Sophia Antipolis, with the support of the CEO of L'Oréal, François Dalle, who wanted to diversify his cosmetic research into the drug sector. At the same time,

, which also had ambitions in dermatology bought the Owen laboratory. L'Oréal and Nestlé joined forces to create Galderma in 1981 (CIRD became Galderma R&D). It was a joint venture between the two companies. Galderma expanded by specializing in the research, development, and commercialization of products for

dermatology Dermatology is the branch of medicine dealing with the Human skin, skin.''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary.'' Random House, Inc. 2001. Page 537. . It is a speciality with both medical and surgical aspects. A List of dermatologists, ...

(skincare) patients. It reached a significant size, with 38 subsidiaries present in 100 countries in the 2010s. It diversified into aesthetic medicine products with the

botulinum toxin Botulinum toxin, or botulinum neurotoxin (commonly called botox), is a neurotoxic protein produced by the bacterium ''Clostridium botulinum'' and related species. It prevents the release of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine from axon en ...

Azzalure, a field in which it strengthened in 2010 with the acquisition of the Swedish medical device company Q-Med. In 2014, Nestlé bought back all the shares from L'Oréal, thus creating a new unit of Nestlé group called Nestle Skin Health. The transaction had a value of €3.1 billion (US$4.23 billion) and was paid for by Nestlé with 21.2 million L'Oréal shares. In 2019, Nestlé sold Galderma for $10.2 billion to a

consortium A consortium () is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organizations, or governments (or any combination of these entities) with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for achieving a ...

comprising the EQT VIII fund, Luxinva (a wholly owned subsidiary of Abu Dhabi Investment Authority), PSP Investments and other institutional investors. Since then, it has been the largest independent dermatology company in the world. In November 2021, Galderma bought California-based Alastin, a firm specializing in specialist skincare products, for an undisclosed price. In June 2022, Galderma announced positive results in two Phase III trials for liquid botulinum toxin A, showing RelabotulinumtoxinA was well tolerated. This result primes the company to apply for approval in the US and other global markets. Also in June 2022, Galderma announced positive data from the Phase III trial, showing the efficacy and safety of Nemolizumab in patients with prurigo nodularis. Nemolizumab is a monoclonal antibody that blocks the signaling of IL-31, a neuroimmune cytokine involved in the pathogenesis of prurigo Nodularis. On 6 March 2023, Galderma announced its intention to list on the Swiss stock exchange. The IPO took place on 22 March 2024 and was one of the biggest in Europe in two years, and the largest in Switzerland since 2017. The stock price went up to 62,68

Swiss franc The Swiss franc, or simply the franc, is the currency and legal tender of Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It is also legal tender in the Italian exclave of Campione d'Italia which is surrounded by Swiss territory. The Swiss National Bank (SNB) iss ...

s, up from the IPO price at 53 francs per share.

Bloomberg Bloomberg may refer to: People * Daniel J. Bloomberg (1905–1984), audio engineer * Georgina Bloomberg (born 1983), professional equestrian * Michael Bloomberg (born 1942), American businessman and founder of Bloomberg L.P.; politician a ...

reports that including debt, Galderma's total market value should come out in the range of $18.69 billion to $19.72 billion. The company plans to repay debt with offering proceeds.

Activities

Galderma provides a range of over-the-counter and prescription dermatological products for skin care, aesthetics and treatment of conditions including

acne Acne ( ), also known as ''acne vulgaris'', is a long-term Cutaneous condition, skin condition that occurs when Keratinocyte, dead skin cells and Sebum, oil from the skin clog hair follicles. Typical features of the condition include comedo, ...

rosacea Rosacea is a long-term skin condition that typically affects the face. It results in redness, pimples, swelling, and small and superficial dilated blood vessels. Often, the nose, cheeks, forehead, and chin are most involved. A red, en ...

psoriasis Psoriasis is a long-lasting, noncontagious autoimmune disease characterized by patches of abnormal skin. These areas are red, pink, or purple, dry, itchy, and scaly. Psoriasis varies in severity from small localized patches to complete b ...

and other steroid-responsive dermatoses (SRD), onychomycosis (fungal nail infections), pigmentary disorders,

skin cancer Skin cancers are cancers that arise from the Human skin, skin. They are due to the development of abnormal cells (biology), cells that have the ability to invade or metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. It occurs when skin cells grow ...

and skin aging. Galderma's activities are divided into three business units: aesthetics, consumer care, and prescription medicine. Galderma's products are sold in more than 100 countries.

Botulinum toxin

In 2007, Galderma and Ipsen signed a licensing agreement for the distribution of the

Dysport, known as Azzalure in the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

. More than 40 million treatments have been performed in the United States and the European Union. The main brands are Restylane, Azzalure, Dysport, Alluzience, Sculptra and Relfydess (relabotulinumtoxinA), which received a positive decision for use in Australia and in the European Union in July 2024.

Consumer care

Galderma's products are available over-the-counter to consumers. The main consumer care brands are Cetaphil, with its range of

products for all ages; Benzac and Differin OTC for mild-to-moderate acne; and Loceryl, used to treat fungal nail infections, and Alastin.

Prescription Medicine

Disease areas are

atopic dermatitis Atopic dermatitis (AD), also known as atopic eczema, is a long-term type of inflammation of the skin. Atopic dermatitis is also often called simply eczema but the same term is also used to refer to dermatitis, the larger group of skin conditi ...

, dermato-

oncology Oncology is a branch of medicine that deals with the study, treatment, diagnosis, and prevention of cancer. A medical professional who practices oncology is an ''oncologist''. The name's Etymology, etymological origin is the Greek word ὄγ ...

and

. The main brands are Aklief, Benzac, Cetaphil, Epiduo, Epiduo Forte, Twyneo, Epsolay, Loceryl, Differin, Soolantra, Mirvaso, Oracea, Metvix and Nemluvio which received US

Food and Drug Administration The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is respo ...

approval for adult patients living with prurigo nodularis in August 2024 and for patients with

in December 2024.

Research and development

The company invests substantially in

research and development Research and development (R&D or R+D), known in some countries as OKB, experiment and design, is the set of innovative activities undertaken by corporations or governments in developing new services or products. R&D constitutes the first stage ...

and sources new treatments from its own activities and from its partnerships with others. It divides its

departments between six sites: *

Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...

, Switzerland *

Uppsala Uppsala ( ; ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the capital of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inhabitants in 2019. Loc ...

, Sweden *

, Texas *Bridgewater,

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

* Baie d’Urfé, Canada

Production

Galderma has manufacturing facilities at the following locations: * The Alby-sur-Chéran plant in France, inaugurated in 1994, supplies over 70 countries. * The Baie d'Urfé (

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

) facility in Canada started production in 2000 and supplies Cetaphil globally. * The plant in

, Sweden, manufactures aesthetic and corrective products. * The Hortolândia site in the state of

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

, Brazil serves South America.

Governance

* Flemming Ørnskov, chief executive officer * Thomas Dittrich chief financial officer * Adrian Murphy, head of global operations * Allison Pinkham, chief human resources officer