Flamma Group acquires additional API site in Italy

Flamma Bulciago site

The company wil acquire a third API manufacturing site in Lecco, Italy as of April this year 

Chignolo D’Isola, Bergamo, Italy – March 16, 2022 – The Flamma Group  (“Flamma”), a global, fully integrated company producing and commercialising small molecule Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) for the life science industry as well as a preeminent Contract Development and Manufacturing Organisation (CDMO) of New Chemical Entities (NCEs) and late stage intermediates for the Innovator Companies, announced that it will acquire a third API manufacturing site in Italy as of April 2022.

Flamma reached an agreement earlier this year with Teva Group for acquiring Sicor Bulciago site located in Lecco, Italy, only 30 km from Flamma’s headquarters. It has a long history of established cGMP manufacturing of pharmaceutical materials including APIs. It has more than 600 cubic meters of manufacturing capacity and has been previously inspected by the FDA,  the Italian Ministry of Health (AIFA), the Brazilian Health Regulatory Agency (ANVISA) and has been accredited by the PDMA (Japan).

This acquisition strengthens and expands Flamma’s manufacturing services as a fully integrated CDMO that is privately held and family run since 1950. The ability to integrate Bulciago into the Flamma Group will be enhanced by the proximity of the site as well as the familiarity of numerous current Flamma employees who previously worked at the site.

Dr. Gianpaolo Negrisoli, Chief Executive Officer of Flamma, noted, “We are extremely happy to bring the Bulciago site into the Flamma Group of companies. This allows us to rapidly enhance our CMC offerings to our customers by providing further flexibility between sites. Having the ability to produce more generic APIs in Italy is in line with the European Pharmaceutical strategy aiming to reshore by having a more robust and resilient supply chain in the pharmaceutical sector that is not totally dependent on Asia.”

Negrisoli adds, “For this reason, we could not allow this factory, so important, with a history of more than 50 years and a production and technological tradition of great value, to disappear. We are very proud to be able to guide its rebirth towards very significant production goals.”

“With Bulciago, Flamma adds 600 cubic meters of available manufacturing capacity bringing our total capacity in Italy to over 900 cubic meters. This goes along with the soon to be 600 cubic meters of manufacturing capacity in China as we begin expansion of Flamma Honkai this year”, added Negrisoli.

Flamma has been busy over the past few years with the addition of Flamma USA in Malvern, PA just outside Philadelphia to handle early stage small molecule projects. The soon to be completed R&D expansion at Chignolo that will quadruple its R&D space there and allow for not only more R&D capabilities but allows for additional analytical resources in the building that was shared between the two groups. Flamma will invest over €150 million  ($167M) over the next three years for increasing capacity and the addition of new technologies across its sites in Italy, China and the USA.

“This is an exciting time at Flamma as we continue to grow to over 1,500 cubic meters of total manufacturing capacity yet still maintain our roots as a family owned and run company focused on developing long term relationships with customers that are looking for a true partner moving forward in their drug development CMC needs,” concludes Negrisoli.