Chiesi Australia officially launched following acquisition of Emerge Health

Melbourne, Australia, 15 June 2020 - Emerge Health, an Australian pharmaceutical company delivering high quality medicines into Australia and New Zealand, and the Chiesi Farmaceutici, an international research-focussed pharmaceutical group, have today announced the official launch of Chiesi Australia.

The transition to Chiesi Australia will bring a broader range of innovative medicines to Australian and New Zealand patients through Chiesi’s significant global research and development, particularly in the areas of respiratory medicine, neonatology and specialised therapies that support under-represented patient communities.

Emerge Health has been operating in Australia since 2010, introducing specialised medicines for patients with unmet needs including rare diseases, gastroenterology, neonatology and neurology. Chiesi is an international research-oriented group with more than 80 years in the pharmaceutical sector. Headquartered in Parma Italy and operating in 29 countries across the globe, Chiesi it is one of the largest respiratory medicine developers and the company is the world’s leading neonatology pharmaceutical company with Curosurf its treatment for respiratory distress syndrome treatment.

Under the banner of Chiesi Australia, the company will seek to introduce new products from Chiesi’s respiratory portfolio, and other key medicines including life-saving treatments in the rare diseases space. Chiesi currently invests 20 per cent of its revenue into research and development globally, and it is expected that Australia will benefit from this in the future. Chiesi’s investment will build upon Emerge Health’s strong foundation of therapies and will enable it to expand its R&D capabilities and product portfolio in Australia and New Zealand in areas of unmet clinical need.

Chris Rossidis, General Manager, Australia & New Zealand, said there was a natural synergy between the two companies of Emerge Health and Chiesi, which both started as family owned businesses.

“Emerge Health has grown over a decade with the aim of bringing medicines to patients that otherwise would have limited treatment options. It grew to a point that we knew that being acquired by a like-minded company with shared values that could provide significant investment was the logical next step,” he said.

“Chiesi grew from a family owned company into a global entity, whilst still family owned, now has the capability to significantly expand in its scope towards making a difference to the lives of patients with unmet needs. Chiesi will bring huge investment into Australia and we expect significant expansion in R&D and employment over the next 18 months.”

The Chiesi Group acquired Emerge Health in November 2019. The two companies previously partnered to bring a treatment for Respiratory Distress Syndrome in premature infants to the Australian market.

Marco Rombi, Head of International Markets Development Division, Chiesi Group, said that the formation of Chiesi Australia is an exciting step forward in the Group’s global expansion and opened up collaborative opportunities with some of the best research centres in the world.

“Our initial partnership with Emerge Health in bringing a neonatology therapy to the Australian market was highly successful. Through that endeavour we found natural synergies between the two companies, both in our shared values and product expertise. Emerge Health’s existing infrastructure and relationships in similar therapy areas were the perfect fit for Chiesi’s planned expansion into the Asia Pacific region,” Mr Rombi said.

“We look forward to combining our capabilities for innovation with the Australian team’s respected relationships within the Australian medical and patient group communities.”

From June 15, 2020, Emerge Health will be operating as Chiesi Australia and an updated website will be launched in the coming weeks.

About the Chiesi Group
Based in Parma, Italy, Chiesi Farmaceutici is an international research-oriented group with over 85 years’ experience in the pharmaceutical sector, operating in 29 countries. The Group conducts research develops and markets innovative drugs for respiratory treatment, Special Care medicine and rare diseases. The Group’s Research and Development Centre is based in Parma (Italy) and coordinates the activities of 4 other important R&D groups in France, the USA, the UK and Sweden to promote its own pre-clinical, clinical and registration programmes. The Group employs around 6,000 people. Chiesi is a certified B Corp.