Cristalmina increases production sevenfold and prepares to launch in international market

  • A new automated robotic line costing more than €6 million has enabled Cristalmina to increase production from 2.5 million to 15 million units per year
  • By 2021, the company plans to have authorisation to market Cristalmina in more than 26 European countries, which will be followed by Asia and the USA in the years to come
  • Laboratorios Salvat’s flagship brand and Spain’s leading antiseptic has tripled in sales in the last seven years and turnover has rocketed from three to nine million euros
  • The pharmaceutical group has manufactured Cristalmina for almost 35 years, which currently accounts for 11% of global turnover

Salvat Pharmaceutical group is making moves to strengthen its international position with Cristalmina, a chlorhexidine-based antiseptic used to protect wounds, burns and the umbilical cord from infection. The product already accounts for 20% of the group’s total turnover in Spain.

In the last seven years, Salvat’s flagship brand has tripled its sales, with turnover increasing from three to nine million euros. Cristalmina is the market leading antiseptic in Spain with sales of almost three million units per year.

Salvat is now preparing an international launch for the end of next year. The pharmaceutical laboratory commissioned a new automated robotic production line six months ago at its Pharmaloop production plant in Alcalá de Henares, to speed up production of Cristalmina. While production was previously limited to 2.5 million units per year, the new line has a capacity to produce 15 million units, most of which will be exported.

According to Alberto Bueno, General Director of Salvat, “The company intends to sell Cristalmina globally, a strategy made possible by the Pharmaloop plant and our new robotic line that is enabling us to manufacture sufficient units to supply international markets”.

The new line will also include a new product presentation, replacing plastic packaging with recyclable glass bottles, thereby improving the group’s environmental performance.

Europe, Asia and the USA

By year end, the regulatory documentation will have been presented to the Spanish Agency of Medicines and Medical Devices (AEMPS) to start the authorisation process for other European countries, which could take up to a year. By 2022, the company expects to be selling Cristalmina in countries like Germany, France, Belgium and Italy, among others. The second phase will take this product to the Asian market where Salvat is already working in China, South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines and Vietnam, as well as the Middle East and North America.

Alberto Bueno said that “Cristalmina is an example of how a commitment to innovation and use of the latest pharmaceutical manufacturing technologies can help Spanish products to achieve international success.”

Imprescindible en los botiquines caseros

Cristalmina was one of the first products launched by Laboratorios Salvat and soon became the choice product for disinfecting minor wounds and burns in both the home and the workplace. It is recommended by health specialists in Spain, since chlorhexidine is the main antiseptic used in both primary care and in hospitals.

One of the products from the Cristalmina range has been widely used for antiseptic purposes during the COVID-19 pandemic, helping to protect people against the spread of the virus.