UPSA announces the completion of its acquisition of Sérélys Pharma, a leading French company in women’s wellness. With this move, UPSA is entering a historically underserved sector with high growth potential.
The specific disorders linked to the hormonal upheavals experienced by women throughout their lives—whether premenstrual syndrome, postpartum discomfort, or menopausal symptoms—are becoming less and less taboo, which is a positive development. In France alone, 80% of women over the age of 45 suffer, to varying degrees, from menopause-related symptoms (such as hot flashes, mood disturbances, and sleep disorders). According to the WHO, more than one billion women worldwide are affected.
For many of these women, effective solutions have remained out of reach since the early 2000s, when concerns emerged about the side effects of hormonal treatments. As a specialist in pain relief and self-medication for nearly 90 years, UPSA saw it as a duty to rise to this major public health challenge for the benefit of women everywhere.
Sérélys Pharma has developed a unique, patented technology based on the extraction of natural active ingredients from pollen: the CyTonin technology.
Pollen has been recognized since Antiquity as a superfood and a natural reservoir of numerous nutrients (amino acids, vitamins, fatty acids, trace elements…) that are beneficial to both physical and mental health. For the first time, CyTonin enables the isolation of these nutrients from the pollen grain’s hard shell, making them more easily absorbed by the human body.
Clinical studies have demonstrated statistically significant efficacy: for instance, after two months of use, hot flashes were reduced by 50% compared to placebo in patients¹. These treatments are 100% natural, hormone-free, and contain no substances with phytoestrogenic activity, thereby minimizing the risk of side effects. Their effectiveness is scientifically validated, with more than thirty clinical studies supporting their benefits, and is recognized by leading medical societies, including recommendations from the International Society of Gynecological Endocrinology.
“Today, women no longer want to suffer the effects of hormonal changes throughout their lives,” says Isabelle Van Rycke, President and CEO of UPSA. “As a female executive, it was only natural for me to want to contribute to such a fundamental cause as women’s health and wellness. As a family health specialist for almost 90 years, UPSA had to respond to this growing need, now made visible by social progress. With the acquisition of Sérélys Pharma®, UPSA is proud to offer women safe, natural, and effective solutions.”
“At this stage of our growth,” explains Sossio Morra, CEO of Sérélys Pharma, “our SME needed the support of a laboratory with greater public visibility to continue moving forward. Being acquired by UPSA is a wonderful opportunity for our exclusive technology to benefit more women, while continuing to grow within a human-scale company.”
Present in around fifty countries, Sérélys Pharma generates three-quarters of its sales outside France, opening new markets for UPSA in the Middle East, North and South America, and notably in China.
This promising acquisition—the first in over thirty years for UPSA—is part of the company’s growth strategy and will help establish UPSA as a major international player in family health and women’s wellness.
¹ Source: Tomas Fait, Manuela Sailer & Pedro-Antonio Regidor (Gynecological Endocrinology 2019; 4:360–363)