History
Professor Giovanni Lorenzini founded IBI in 1918. An open-minded business man and great innovator, Lorenzini made a name for the company with the first multivitamin product and covered the national requirements for ascorbic acid, thiamine and insulin in the interwar period. A life devoted to research, he saw industry as: “Applied science [whose] noble intents and dignified form it has to maintain”. In the period of the two world wars, when industry and society were asked to take part in rebuilding the country, he made the motto “Fareperdare” (create to contribute) the company philosophy. Still run by the same family, this motto remains at the basis of the company’s day-to-day activities today.
THE MILESTONES
In 1936, confirming its strong international vocation, IBI is already present abroad, in Brazil. Today it exports 2/3 of its turnover worldwide.
In 1940, the founder’s death ushered in the era of “female management”, introducing a new feature that immediately became a key success factor: the development of ethical drugs, followed by exports and the internal production of antibiotics.
Since 1956 IBI has been researching, developing and patenting innovative production methods for a range of antibiotics and today it is a leader on the sterile penicillin and injectable drugs market.
In 1961, it was one of the first companies in Italy to obtain FDA certification for the exportation of ß-lactam antibiotics.
The 1970s marked the beginning of a period of know-how transfer which saw the construction of important antibiotic production plants abroad (Algeria, Cuba, Nigeria, Egypt and Panama).
In 1974 IBI opened the production unit in Aprilia, today the company headquarters. In the 1980s, under the guidance of the tenacious and determined Loredana Lorenzini, the company became one of the leading pharmaceutical industries on the Italian stage.
In 1990 there was a new generational change. Loredana Lorenzini was succeeded by her niece Camilla Borghese Khevenhüller, the current chairperson and managing director, who has reorganized the company and renewed the product range, while strengthening the sales structure in Italy.
The 1990s were marked by a series of important patents (amongst which silybin complex, amoxicillin crystal, piperacillin precipitate, ursodeoxycholic acid and others), up to the launch of Realsil in 2001; these achievements made IBI, now an exporter of both raw materials and finished products, a world-famous, high-quality brand.
In 2006 IBI created a distribution strategy in hospitals, entrusting the sales of its products to a specialized distribution system, the Ibisqus Hospital Line, present today in Italy, the UK, Germany and Ireland.
In 2007 IBI opened a new building entirely dedicated to the production of ß-lactam drugs.
In 2015 the department for recombinant protein production and biological dosage for clinical trials received authorization from the AIFA (Italian Drug Agency).