Biolab, owned by the Marques family, leaves ‘pens’ aside to grow by treating the effects of GLP-1

Fruit of the dynasty that created Cimed and União Química, the laboratory hired a CEO from outside and projects R$ 5 billion in revenue by 2027

Created by the more discreet wing of Marques family, one of the most traditional in the Brazilian pharmaceutical industry, the Biolab has followed a different path from the houses run by his relatives from Chemical Union e Cimed. 

The focus of the group founded by the brothers Cleiton and Paulo Marques with his friend Dr. Dante Alário Jr. is in cardiac treatment drugs, an area that accounts for more than half of the company's turnover, and in increasing partnerships with foreign pharmaceutical companies to represent branded products in the Brazilian market.

And look at market GLP-1, This is an obsession that has taken hold of the pharmaceutical sector since the Ozempic patent expired at the end of March, paving the way for generics and biosimilars.

Fabio Amorosino, Biolab's CEO, says that the company is at an advanced stage of evaluating whether or not it will have its own “pen”. But today, the biggest focus is on treating the side effects of rapid weight loss. 

The company has recently launched a product to prevent gallstones in patients who lose weight too quickly, keep the Sarcoplex, a supplement to prevent muscle loss, and saw the demand for the Pantogar, the popular remedy for hair loss - another common effect in those who use slimming pens - skyrocketed.

“Instead of competing on the head directly, we are preferring an approach as partners with the doctor who treats the patient. The science of weight loss is increasingly embarking on a path, which is to look at weight loss beyond the scale,” says Amorosino, in conversation with InvestNews.

Fábio Amorosino, CEO of Biolab: alternative strategy to the wave of GLP-1 analogs (Disclosure)

Founded in 1997, Biolab closed 2024 with just over R$ 3.2 billion in revenue, marketed 143 million units of medicines and currently occupies tenth place in the consultancy ranking IQVIA, which audits the Brazilian pharmaceutical market.

Cardiology accounts for 52% of the business. In retail, the company has names familiar to Brazilian consumers, such as the ointment Acnase for pimple control and the nausea remedy Vonau, developed in partnership with USP. 

International market

Biolab's internationalization has an unusual address for a Brazilian pharmaceutical company: Ontario. The choice wasn't due to proximity or language. It was because of the regulatory gateway.

The approval of a product by the Canadian authority finds a faster way to obtain approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA, the regulatory heads of the United States and the European Union, respectively.

t was with this strategy in mind that Biolab set up a research center in Canada in 2017 and, in 2022, purchased the Exzell Pharma, It is the only Brazilian company to have a research and development (R&D) center in a developed country, according to Amorosino. In addition to the center in Ontario, the company has another research center in Itapecerica da Serra (SP).

“Some competitors have gone down the path of acquiring plants in Latin America. We decided to go to developed countries as a spearhead, a strategy that sets us apart,” says Biolab's CEO. 

“Canada is our mature market hub, it's our entry hub into developed countries. Exzell is not just a subsidiary. It's a technology exchange center,” he continues.

Partnerships with foreign pharmaceutical companies, which include the contraceptive Qlaira (Bayer) and Repatha (Amgen) for cholesterol, account for another 30% of turnover. 

Family business, but (also) professional

Since October 2024, Biolab has no longer been run by its founders. Amorosino, a market executive invited to be the first CEO without the Marques surname in almost three decades of the company, took over the day-to-day running of the company.

For him, the task is nothing new. For 24 years he was an executive at Alpha Conglomerate, by the banker from Minas Gerais Aloysio de Andrade Faria, who died in 2020 at the age of 99. 

Nicknamed the “invisible banker” by Delfim Netto, Faria was the kind of patriarch who never really let go of the business. Until shortly before the pandemic, he still worked at the headquarters of the Alfa Bank, at Avenida Paulista at least once a week, even if he doesn't hold an executive position. 

For 16 of his 24 years with the conglomerate, Amorosino was president of the financial group, which included a bank, a finance company, an insurance company and an operation in the United States. He also managed the banker's personal fortune.

At Biolab, he had been an independent director since 2021. “I've experienced family governance up close. What's more, Cleiton and Paulo have been friends of mine for twenty years. I met them both as clients, and the opportunity to work together arose,” says the CEO.

The choice of an outside executive did not come alone. Together with Amorosino, Biolab set up a seven-seat advisory board, in which the three founding partners, Cleiton and Paulo Marques and Alário Jr., share seats with market professionals chosen to cover areas that complement the pharmaceutical company's business.

Cássio Casseb, former president of Banco do Brasil and GPA, reads about retail and distribution. Paulo Gandolfi, CEO of 3M do Brasil, contributes to industrial research and development. 

João Bezerra Leite, former CTO of Itaú Unibanco, helps identify opportunities for technological innovation. To reinforce its international strategy, the company invited Adriano Treve, an Italian who headed Roche in Brazil and now lives in Portugal, with a specific mandate to open paths and close partnerships abroad.

On the Marques family side, succession is also underway, with three representatives of the second generation already in executive positions in the company. 

At the age of 39, Tatiana Marques, Cleiton's daughter is now director of communication and sustainability. “I'd never had a boss other than my father,” she says of Amorosino's arrival. “It's been a great experience. It's another form of management, a different relationship, even though everything was always professional with my father and uncle.”

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