Clariant's Pharmaceutical Fine Chemicals is now 'Archimica'
Separation from Clariant Complete, Headquarter in Germany
The organization formerly known as the Pharmaceutical fine chemicals business of Clariant is now Archimica -- the world's leading global fine chemicals business focused solely on commercialization solutions for the pharmaceutical industry.
The new business is comprised of virtually all assets and personnel that had previously supported commercial activities for the manufacture of high-tech building blocks, regulatory starting materials, cGMP intermediates and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) for the pharmaceutical industry.
Archimica will be headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, with manufacturing and technology development sites in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Italy. Archimica begins operations with sales in excess of $250 million and over 800 employees worldwide.
According to Norbert Dieterich, CEO of Archimica, the business' new name -- Archimica -- underscores the historical tradition of pharmaceutical development in the organization that stretches back over 40 years to the Archimica organization in northern Italy.
"Our predecessor company, Archimica, was one of the world's premiere manufacturers of APIs dating back to the early 1960s. This tradition of pharmaceutical manufacturing belongs to all of our sites where our facilities and many of our people once were part of pharmaceutical companies," he said. "Our adoption of the Archimica name communicates the strong focus our business will have on commercialization solutions for the pharmaceutical industry. As a business, we will be faster to react to the needs of this market and 100 percent of our resources will go into making us a better partner for the pharmaceutical companies commercializing new products and developing cost-effective sourcing options for their existing portfolios. As we begin this new era, we are strong, steady and focused on pharmaceuticals."
Continuity of Operations Emphasized
According to Ralf Pfirmann, Global Business Director, the new Archimica organization will function as it had before in delivering technology and manufacturing options to the pharmaceutical industry.
"For the past five years, our Pharmaceutical Fine Chemicals business has been working to implement a strategy to be a premiere supplier for the pharmaceutical industry. Going forward, this will not change. We will have the same excellent personnel working within the same frameworks at all of our global sites. This means that our technology development, our process expertise, our manufacturing excellence and our state-of-the-art regulatory compliance efforts will remain the same," he said. "It is the special nature of the pharmaceutical industry that shapes the offerings of this business. Today we are not just a chemical business and we are not just a pharmaceutical manufacturing business. We have evolved our business model to create value for the pharmaceutical industry where they need it. Our position as a standalone entity will allow us to focus on developing these distinctive capabilities to better serve the needs of major pharma as we move into the future."
Generic APIs Continue as a Focus
The development and commercialization of generic APIs, which has been a long-term part of the Archimica business, will continue in the new organization. Today, approximately 30 % of Archimica's sales will be made up of generic APIs. According to Sante Lanzi, Global Business Director, the new organization will allow this activity to continue and expand. "With a more focused organization, we anticipate that we will be able to enhance our speed and effectiveness at introducing generic APIs to the market. We will leverage our excellence in market knowledge, manufacturing and regulatory issues to succeed in this area," he said.
Global Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Presence
Each of the manufacturing and R&D sites previously serving the Pharmaceutical Fine Chemicals business will continue to do so under Archimica. These include Pharmaceutical Centres of Excellence in Springfield, Missouri, USA (in combination with a Puerto Rico facility) and Origgio/Isso, Italy that currently form the core of the business' FDA/cGMP manufacturing capability. They also include sites in Bon Encontre/Tonneins, France that conduct the business' bulk sterile API manufacturing and Sandycroft, UK where high intensity chemistry as well as the manufacture of APIs is practiced. The Frankfurt, Germany site is the business' global Pharmaceutical Services Technology Centre, focusing on expanding the use of leading edge chemical and biological technologies and in the development of new processes. These locations are complemented by four Molecules Synthesis Centres that provides rapid, small scale manufacture of clinical trial quantities of molecules. Many of facilities were originally built and operated as sites by pharmaceutical companies prior to their becoming assets of Clariant.
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