Pharmamar: the lurbinectedin splitting investors' opinions

Pharmamar: the lurbinectedin that promises to change lung cancer treatment

Are we witnessing the turning point Pharmamar shareholders have been waiting decades for? The approval of lurbinectedin in the United States and the advanced procedures in Europe suggest so. But the market, stubborn as ever, still isn't buying it completely.

Throughout 2025, the company submitted the dossiers to the FDA and the EMA, and in autumn the US agency included lurbinectedin in combination with Roche's atezolizumab in the NCCN guidelines for small cell lung cancer. Formal FDA approval came shortly after, opening the door to first-line maintenance therapy.

The numbers behind the rally

The most optimistic estimates point to revenues of 615 million euros in the United States alone for the first-line indication, with 25% royalties for Pharmamar, and similar sales in Europe counting direct sales and licensing agreements. The 2026 corporate presentation raises the market niche for the Imforte regimen to around 600 million euros. Not bad for a company that until recently lived on promises.

The skepticism of those who have seen it all before

But some people are not impressed. The company, heir to Zeltia, has been promising a game-changing molecule since the late 1990s. In 2000 it was an alga; now it's a sea squirt. The share price has hovered around similar levels in 2008, 2021 and 2025. For the critics, this is not a long-distance race but a pendulum that rises with the news and falls with the results.

Global expansion and marketing doubts

Meanwhile, Pharmamar has announced its entry into China, Japan, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom. It has even celebrated its 40th anniversary with an advertising campaign on radio and television, something that has raised suspicions: why advertise an oncology company to the general public? The company justifies it as an institutional campaign, but the move has fueled accusations of trying to pump up the stock.

At the close of this review, the share was trading around 84 euros, far from the 103 it hit a few months ago and the 40 some predict. The optimists see a launch ramp; the skeptics, the same old merry-go-round. The molecule is real, small cell lung cancer is a serious target and approval is on the table. Whether the market wants to see it is another story.