Sales: $1.5 billion

Comments: In April 2023, The Pierre Fabre Group acquired Même, a French dermo-cosmetic brand for patients experiencing the side effects of cancer treatments.

Même was established with oncologists and dermatologists to address the side effects of cancer treatments with founders Judith Levy Keller and Juliette Couturier at the helm.

The acquisition cements the continuation of the commercial partnership forged in December 2017. For three years, the Eau Thermale Avène brand’s sales network introduced the philosophy and products of Même in pharmacies and drugstores. The brands have a portfolio boasting 46 products in 4,800 pharmacies and drugstores, in addition to an online store.

The brand is distributed in 10 other countries including Germany, Romania, and more recently, China, with potential for growth in other markets. Pierre Fabre had been a minority shareholder for the past five years, and acquired the remaining capital from the co-founders and the Eutopia investment fund specializing in emerging consumer brands through its Otium Consumer fund.

“Through this acquisition, we confirm our strategy of investing in innovative brands and products in our priority areas of oncology, dermatology and dermo-cosmetics,” said Eric Ducournau, group chief executive officer of the Pierre Fabre Group. “Through its positioning, Même is at the very crossroads of these three strategic priorities. When I first met Judith and Juliette 5 years ago, I realized very quickly that we shared common values and that their project had strong development potential. We will now continue to write this meaningful story together in service to those affected by cancer.”

Sales: $1.4 billion

The latest dry shampoo from Klorane contains organic flax.

Pierre Fabre is best known for Klorane, the top-selling natural hair care brand in European pharmacies. For National Dry Shampoo Day on March 10, Klorane expanded its portfolio with the new Volumizing Dry Shampoo with Organic Flax. The formula is ideal for consumers looking to add volume to a hairstyle, extend a blowout or freshen up second day hair. It is formulated with 100% organically grown flax. The plant is extracted through green chemistry using a green solvent that collects mucilage from flax seeds. In addition to its volumizing, styling and texturizing benefits, the formulation incorporates seven 100% natural, oil-absorbing, plant-based cleansing powders, according to Klorane. The brand knows a thing or two about this type of product having launched the world’s first dry shampoo more than 50 years ago.

In other news, the company teamed up with ClearForMe. The site syncs product details across brands and retailers “to deliver rich, personalized retail experiences.” ClearForMe helps beauty brands and their customers navigate the complex world of skin care ingredients.

Sales: $1.4 billion
Corporate sales: $2.7 billion

Pierre Fabre’s skin care brands have seen some innovations in the past year. For example, Avène launched Cicalfate+ Restorative Protective Cream touted as an enhanced and efficacious solution to soothe wounded, compromised skin. The cream is formulated with proprietary C+ Restore complex, a postbiotic skin-repairing active ingredient.

According to Avène, this cream is clinically proven to accelerate skin’s recovery process by four times while maintaining an optimal healing environment. The formulation is an updated version of the original Cicalfate, which launched in 2001 and is a leading skin repair cream prescribed by doctors and dermatologists. In fact, Avène says there’s one Cicalfate cream sold every five seconds globally.

Sales: $1.5 billion for cosmetics.
Corporate sales: $2.6 billion.

For 2018, sales gains for Groupe Pierre Fabre’s beauty activity were driven by double-digit growth in Asia and the Americas. Low single-digit growth in Europe was impacted mainly by the sluggish French market.

Just as our Top 50 wrapped last summer, big news was revealed at Pierre Fabre. In August 2018, Núria Perez-Cullell was appointed to the position of chief executive officer of the Pierre Fabre Group’s Pierre Fabre Dermo-Cosmetics (PFDC) subsidiary. Perez-Cullell took over the position from Eric Ducournau, who had been CEO of Pierre Fabre Dermo-Cosmetics since October 2012 and was promoted to group executive officer. As CEO of PFDC, Perez-Cullell’s responsibilities include management of activities in France; coordination and implementation of the global strategy of PFDC brands; its manufacturing operations; R&D and product development.

In 2018, strategic initiatives included the opening of a new innovation center in Brazil, a concept store and e-commerce store in Poland and an investment in Même, a French indie beauty brand. Même specializes in skin care for women affected by cancer.

Pierre Fabre Dermo-Cosmetics signed a partnership in which it became the second investor in Même. The range—which was created by two young women inspired by their own personal experience—was formulated in collaboration with oncologists and dermatologists. According to Pierre Fabre, sales teams and medical reps of Eau Thermale Avène will help build recognition of Même products in oncology departments and pharmacies.

In the US, the Klorane Botanical Foundation and national non-profit KidsGardening recently named six schools as winners of the second annual Budding Botanist Grant. The schools were selected for their commitment to teaching environmental sustainability and biodiversity. Since 2018, 12 Budding Botanist Grant packages valued at $3,000 each in cash and supplies have been provided to school educators in low-income schools to provide much-needed resources for creating learning gardens with their students.

Sales: $1.5 billion for cosmetics.
Corporate sales: $2.5 billion.

There’s a new person in the c-suite at Pierre Fabre Group; Eric Ducournau is now chief executive officer taking over for Bertrand Parmentier, who retired. Ducournau, who officially took over the post on July 2, had been CEO of Pierre Fabre Dermo-Cosmetics since October 2012. He joined the company in 2000.

This year, Pierre Fabre Dermo-Cosmetics signed a partnership in which it became the second investor in Même, a start-up brand that offers cosmetics for women suffering from cancer. The range—which was created by two young women inspired by their own personal experience—was formulated in collaboration with oncologists and dermatologists. According to Pierre Fabre, sales teams and medical reps of Eau Thermale Avène will help build recognition of Même products in oncology departments and pharmacies.

Last year, the Pierre Fabre group officially opened a renovated Péraudel site in Castres France, which is home to the group’s Consumer Health Care division. The unit, which is responsible for several OTC health products as well as oral care SKUs, natural health products, phytotherapy and aromatherapy, generated revenue of about $333 million in 2016. The renovation of the three-story building represented an investment of about $13 million.

Pierre Fabre’s clinical research and development center, located at the Hôtel-Dieu-Saint-Jacques in Toulouse, studies the physiology of normal skin and the biological, physico-chemical and mechanical mechanisms involved in skin disorders. Nearly 900 clinical studies are conducted at the site each year.

The Fabre name can be found on places other than skin care labs; the rugby stadium in Castres was recently renamed after Pierre Fabre, who was an avid fan of the sport.

In the US, the Klorane Botanical Foundation and national non-profit KidsGardening recently named six schools as winners of the inaugural Budding Botanist Grant. The grant, valued at $3000 in cash and supplies, is provided to school educators at inner city, low-income schools.

Sales: $1.3 billion

Comments: Pierre Fabre calls itself the No. 1 European and the No. 2 global player in the dermo-cosmetics market. One or more of the company’s 10 brands can be found in 130 countries. Last year, Pierre Fabre Dermo-Cosmetics set up operations in Denmark, representing its 14th European subsidiary. Also in 2016, Klorane celebrated its 50th anniversary.

While on the subject of milestones, this year, René Furterer marks its 60th anniversary this year.

Sales: $1.3 billion

Pierre Fabre is the second largest dermo-cosmetics laboratory in the world and the second largest private French pharmaceutical group. In 2015, it generated more than €2.2 billion in sales, of which 57% came from its dermo-cosmetics sector, and 58% from international business. Pierre Fabre, which has always been based in the Languedoc Roussillon Midi Pyrenees region in southern France, has subsidiaries in 43 countries and distribution agreements in more than 130 countries.

Pierre Fabre employs 13,000 people worldwide. The company’s products represent a continuum ranging from prescription drugs, dermo-cosmetics, to consumer health care. In 2015, the company dedicated almost €200 million to R&D, shared between oncology, dermatology, the central nervous system, consumer health care and dermo-cosmetics.
Marketed globally, Eau Thermale Avène is the market-leading dermo-cosmetics brand in Europe, Japan and China.

The Pierre Fabre Foundation, a registered public interest foundation, is the Group’s main shareholder with 86% of its shares and Pierre Fabre employees own the majority of the remaining shares.

In 2015, the French certification group AFNOR audited Pierre Fabre Laboratories for its corporate social responsibility (CSR) and environmental performance, and judged the Group to be “exemplary” (AFAQ 26 000).

Sales: $1.4 billion

Pierre Fabre is the third largest French pharmaceutical group and the second largest dermo-cosmetics laboratory in the world. In 2014, corporate sales approached $2.6 billion, with revenues in dermo-cosmetics accounting for 55% and international sales for 55%.

Founded and with its headquarters still based in the southwest of France, Pierre Fabre currently has branches in 44 countries and distribution agreements in more than 130 countries.

Covering a continuum of healthcare products, from prescription drugs and consumer health care products (family care, oral care, natural health) to dermo-cosmetics, Pierre Fabre Laboratories employ more than 10,000 people worldwide.

In 2014, Pierre Fabre dedicated more than 17% of its drug revenues to R&D.

With brands such as Eau Thermale Avène, Klorane, Ducray, René Furterer, A-Derma, Galénic, Naturactive, Elgydium, Eludril or Drill, Pierre Fabre Laboratories is a market leader when it comes to skin, hair and oral care products distributed in the French pharmacy channel. Eau Thermale Avène is marketed worldwide, and is the leading dermo-cosmetics brand sold in Europe, Japan and China.

Through the Pierre Fabre Participations holding company, the Pierre Fabre Foundation, a government-recognized public-interest foundation, owns 86% of Pierre Fabre Laboratories. Remaining shares are owned by company employees and through treasury stock.

The French certification group AFNOR has audited Pierre Fabre Laboratories for its corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance at advanced level (AFAQ 26 000).

Sales: $1.7 billion

Pierre Fabre’s global turnover in 2013 was nearly $3.3 billion, a gain of 1.6%. The company’s dermo-cosmetic business—which covers skin care and hair care brands—had sales of $1.7 billion.

There was sad news last year at this French firm, as founder Pierre Fabre passed in late July 2013.

To ensure the future of the company he founded back in 1961, Fabre had earlier given his shares to the Foundation Pierre Fabre, a recognized public utility. In addition, thanks to an employee shareholding program set up in 2005, 90% of the company’s employees collectively have a 7 % shareholding interest in the company.

Pierre Fabre’s headquarters is located in Castres, but there’s plenty of action in nearby Haute-Garonne. Every year, one million orders are processed and dispatched from Fabre’s Haute-Garonne site, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year and covers all dermo-cosmetic and family healthcare products sold worldwide by the group.

Built in 1974, it dispatches more than 25,000 tons of products to group subsidiaries and partners in more than 130 countries, according to the firm.

In 2013, Fabre spent more than $100 million on “investments,” some of which was spent at its dermo-cosmetics manufacturing site in Soual and at a sterile cosmetics production facility in Avene.

Sales: $1.3 billion

Pierre Fabre Dermo-Cosmetics (PFDC), which recorded sales of more than $1.3 billion in 2012, employs approximately 4,200 people. Corporate sales exceeded $2.6 billion. The company invested more than $63 million in R&D in 2012.

In May 2013, the firm inaugurated the new Pierre Fabre Dermo-Cosmetics production site in Soual, Tarn, France. Built in close proximity to the original Pierre Fabre Laboratories plant, this new site will enable the firm to keep pace with the international growth coming at Avène, Klorane, Ducray, René Furterer, A-Derma, Galénic and Elancyl. The site, which is equipped to produce sterile cosmetic products, employs a patented packaging system and a unique manufacturing process in accordance with pharmaceutical industry standards.

Earlier this year, PFDC opened a Korean affiliate to sell Avène, Ducray and A-Derma brand products, ending its almost decade-long contract with Yuhan Corporation. PFDC says it intends to contribute to the overall development of dermo-cosmetics in Korea, becoming involved with public health initiatives through organizations such as the Atopic Dermatitis Foundation.

“Korean consumers are becoming more and more demanding, especially in terms of effectiveness, but also safety,” noted Soeun Park, vice president of PFDC Korea. “Our primary objective is to better understand their expectations and needs, in order to inform and advise them on the products that are suited to their specific requirements. There is now real potential for development in dermo-cosmetics in Korea. As a forerunner in this field, we are giving ourselves the means to contribute to this market evolution.”

Pierre Fabre is also big on another Asian market—China. The firm aims to double its turnover in the country in the next five years, and brands such as Avéne appear to have Fabre on its way. Celebrating the 10th anniversary of its launch in the growing country, the range is offered in 200 Chinese cities and distributed in more than 1,000 sales outlets. Based on Avène thermal water, the line has gained the trust of Chinese dermatologists and consumers. In fact, one Avène product is sold every five seconds in China, according to the company.

All of these moves come under the guidance of a new CEO. Last October, the board of directors—chaired by Pierre Fabre himself— appointed Didier Miraton to the post of CEO of Pierre Fabre SA. He replaced Jacques Fabre, who remains a member of the group’s board of directors as well as a board member of the Pierre Fabre Foundation.

Sales: $1.3 billion

Pierre Fabre operates in the personal care space via its dermo-cosmetic unit, which tallied sales of $1.3 billion in 2011 via sales of skin care and hair care products sold to consumers and via dermatologists and pharmacists as well. Corporate sales were $2.6 billion in 2011, which incudes Fabre’s medical/drugs-focused operations. That arm recently inked a deal with US-based biopharma firm Adventrix Pharmaceuticals in which Fabre will contract manufacture (in clinical trials) the active ingredient in ANX-188, Adventrix’s lead candidate that indicates improves microvascular blood flow and has potential application in treating a wide range of diseases and conditions, such as complications arising from sickle cell disease.

Fabre says its corporate culture centers on taking a “rigorous approach” to business, and as such, 5% of its turnover is dedicated to research and development.

The firm is taking a rigorous approach to its raw material supply as well. For example, as part of an ongoing mission to protect plant heritage, Institut Klorane formed a partnership with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the National Botanical Conservatory and local participants to help save Calendula maritima, a species endemic to Sicily that is in danger of extinction from pollution from cars, illegal trash dumping, and the presence of Carpobrotus edulis, an exotic invasive plant.

Within that endeavor, Institut Klorane is developing educational tools to bring awareness to the general public and schools of sustainable protection measures for plants and their ecosystems. For a selected number of regional schools, a comprehensive curriculum is scheduled for 2012/2013. It entails biodiversity education from a botanist about the threat of extinction weighing on Calendula maritima, field cleaning, seed planting in the classroom and reintroduction of the plants in situ.

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Sales: $1.2 billion

He barely had time to break in that new office. After taking over as chief executive last September, Olivier Bohuon left Pierre Fabre after just five months at the helm (he moved on to a post at Smith & Nephew’s medical device company).

Last month, Ducray Laboratories launched an awareness campaign for its new biodegradabale extra gentle shampoo formula. According to Fabre, the formula has been optimized for low environmental impact thanks to a complete analysis of its product life cycle. It is also paraben-free, phenoxyethanol-free and silicone-free, which reduces its impact on aquatic organisms by 84%, the company said.

Last year, founder Pierre Fabre was promoted to the ranks of Grand Cross of the Order of the Legion of Honour.

Sales: $1.1 billion

On Sept. 1, Olivier Bohuon will replace Jean-Pierre Garnier as chief executive officer of the Pierre Fabre Group. Prior to this appointment, Bohuon, 51, was executive vice president of the Abbott Corporation and president of its pharmaceutical division.

In May, Pierre Fabre expanded its presence in India with the launch of Avéne skin care. It followed that launch by introducing an oral care range. Through its partner, Win Medicare, the company hopes to grab 10-15% of the Indian oral care market, which is said to be growing 20% a year.

Sales: $1.2 billion

 In 2008, Pierre Fabre’s Dermo-Cosmétique sales were $1.2 billion, representing 47% of its total revenue. The company currently employs 9,800 people; 3,734 work for the Dermo-Cosmétique unit.

In May, Jean-Pierre Garnier, chief executive officer of Pierre Fabre SA, was awarded the “Knight Commander of the British Empire” medal. He was honored for his personal and professional commitment to fighting AIDS in Africa.

Sales: $1.0 billion for cosmetics.

Pierre Fabre’s Dermo-Cosmetics unit earmarks 5% of its sales for research projects, which are conducted at its centers in Vigoulet-Auzil and Saint-Jacques Hospital in Toulouse. Research conducted in Toulouse is made possible through an  agreement between the Pierre Fabre group, the local university hospital and Toulouse University.

Elgydium, the leading toothpaste in France for more than three decades, is making a wider push into the U.S. market. This winter, Sante Active, a U.S. subsidiary of Laboratoires Pierre Fabre,  began distributing Elgydium to pharmacies throughout the country. The line includes Elgydium Whitening toothpaste, which is formulated with Micro-Pulverized sodium bicarbonate, which is five times smaller than typical sodium bicarbonate.