Pierre Fabre Laboratories allows access to its plant resources

By

Sarah Ahssen

Published
Dec 10, 2015

Pierre Fabre Laboratories is allowing access to its plant resources for external collaborations. The programme is labelled 'Nature Open Library' and, as Pierre Fabre Laboratories has stated, it is designed to share the group's expertise in research, development and industrialisation of active plant ingredients with "private and public players engaged in innovative projects." Ideally, these players are small and high-calibre, coming from the pharmaceutical industry but also from the food and agri-food sectors. 

The Pierre Fabre 'plant samples bank' is one of the world's most important private collections, and holds 15,000 samples. Currently Pierre Fabre Laboratories generates 40% of its revenue through products of plant origin. To make the project successful, Pierre Fabre created a dedicated internet platform which will collect the partners' initial requirements.
 
"The Nature Open Library programme is a perfect example of our desire to turn Open Innovation into a major element of our innovation model," said Bertrand Parmentier, CEO of the Pierre Fabre group. A year ago, the group, due to competitive pressure, restructured its pharmaceutical division, and announced the cutting of 551 jobs in France, notably in research and development.

François Sautel, in charge of the Nature Open Library programme, explained how to exploit the new partnerships: "The closer these projects will be to their commercialization phase, the more value they'll acquire, and the more we will be able to legitimately claim a return on our investment."

Pierre Fabre is the third-largest French pharmaceutical laboratory and the world's second dermo-cosmetic laboratory. In 2014 the group generated a revenue of €2.1 billion, 55% of which came from dermocosmetics through the Avène, Ducray and Klorane brands.