27th March 2026, Barcelona, Spain – Almirall, S.A. (ALM), a global biopharmaceutical company dedicated to medical dermatology based in Barcelona, today announced a collaboration and licensing agreement with Shanghai Huaota Biopharmaceutical Co., Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Zhejiang Huahai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., to jointly initiate a research and development program advancing a monoclonal antibody candidate for potential applications across multiple indications, including medical dermatology.
Under the terms of the agreement, Huaota will lead early research activities and the initial stages of clinical development to deliver the program to clinical proof‑of‑concept, leveraging an innovative biologics R&D platform. Almirall will hold global development and commercialization rights outside of China, while Huaota will obtain the development and commercialization rights for China.
Cumulative payments by Almirall to Huaota could sum up to USD 340 million, including upfront and milestone payments linked to development and commercialization success, as well as tiered royalties on future net sales. Huaota will pay tiered royalties to Almirall based on potential future sales of the product in China.
“This partnership reinforces Almirall’s commitment to expanding our differentiated biologics pipeline and to delivering innovative therapies that address key unmet needs in medical dermatology,” said Karl Ziegelbauer, Chief Scientific Officer at Almirall. “Huaota’s proven biologics discovery capabilities complement our clinical and commercial expertise, and we look forward to progressing this exciting program together to bring innovative products to dermatology patients in the future.”
The new partnership builds on Almirall’s expanding footprint in China, where the company opened new offices recently to focus on identifying innovative local R&D programs that complement its in‑house R&D capabilities. The office serves as a hub for high‑value collaborations that accelerate global dermatology innovation.
In 2022, Almirall initiated a collaboration with another Chinese company, Simcere, with a program to progress a preclinical-stage drug candidate for autoimmune diseases developed by Simcere. Based on Almirall’s end-to-end expertise and China’s growing demand for advanced treatments in medical dermatology, the company also focus on giving patients access to its existing products through partnerships with local commercialisation expertise. Almirall and Chinese company Cutia have a license agreement for the commercialisation of Almirall’s topical finasteride product which is already available in China for the treatment of androgenetic alopecia. And more recently, Almirall signed an agreement with Sinomune for the commercialisation of sarecycline which was recently approved by the regulatory authorities in China for the treatment of acne.
Almirall’s continued investment in its leading R&D capabilities, and the medical dermatology pipeline are closely aligned with the company’s long-term view on its contributions and commitment to positively impact patients and society and with further growing its leadership in medical dermatology. Almirall invested more than 1bn Euros into R&D in medical dermatology over the last 10 years, and in 2025 Almirall continued to invest around 12.5% of net sales in R&D.
About Almirall
Almirall is a global pharmaceutical company dedicated to medical dermatology. We closely collaborate with leading scientists, healthcare professionals, and patients to deliver our purpose: to transform the patients' world by helping them realize their hopes and dreams for a healthy life. We are at the forefront of science to deliver ground-breaking, differentiated medical dermatology innovations that address patients’ needs.
Almirall, founded in 1944 and headquartered in Barcelona, is publicly traded on the Spanish Stock Exchange (ticker: ALM, total revenue in 2025: €1114.5 MM, over 2100 employees globally. Almirall products help to improve the lives of patients every day and are available in over 100 countries.
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