Innovation & Sustainability: IBSA Inaugurates cosmos, the Group's Largest Production Plant

IBSA Institut Biochimique celebrated last Saturday, October 29, at its headquarters in Lugano, in the Pian Scairolo area, the inauguration of cosmos, the largest production plant of the Group.

A company with a consolidated turnover of CHF 800 million, with a presence in over 90 countries and 17 subsidiaries in Europe, China and the United States and over 2,000 employees, IBSA does not stop and continues its path not only towards the growth of its business, but also towards the sharing of its achievement with the community and its territory. Sustainability, Innovation and Beauty are the key elements that intertwine and guide this path.

"A year ago, we began to talk about our commitment to a sustainability integrated in the social, environmental and economic domain, with investments in infrastructures, services and projects available to the Ticino community", said Arturo Licenziati, President and CEO of IBSA. "The inauguration of the cosmos plant is a major phase of this process, in which we want to do our part to act responsibly towards the people and the planet, contributing to social well-being and progress".

With a total area of 16,200 square meters (equivalent to 3 football fields), cosmos is a plant characterised by efficiency, optimisation of resources, attention to quality and precision. It has been designed according to the latest industry 4.0 requirements, where all production lines are managed by technologically advanced and interconnected systems, which guarantee an exact control of the systems and the production processes, as well as the highest quality standards of products, for the benefit of the patients' safety, while also employing more than 250 people.

In addition to the technological and innovative aspect, the distinctive element of cosmos is the design, conceived with a view to sustainability and beauty, key principles of the founder's DNA.

"IBSA's entire philosophy is to be found in the design of cosmos", explained Vice President Antonio Melli. "We will therefore continue to invest, not only for business development reasons, but also to create benefits to be shared with the community. This is the meaning of the claim "Close to you" we launched a year ago: a message of commitment to acting for the People and for our territory, to restore value to the future generations".

The cosmos plant is located within the CorPharma area, the new industrial district located in the south of Lugano, created with the aim of centralising, restructuring and revitalising, with a view to promoting the recovery of existing infrastructures, transforming their spaces, emphasising the aesthetics and functionality of the elements, in order to have a positive impact on the urban fabric and on the people's quality of life. Indeed, during the renovation of the plant, great attention was paid to the sustainability of the materials and the "green" element was emphasised as predominant also outside the building, with a view to favouring the conservation of the biodiversity of natural spaces.

Given the importance of the entire CorPharma and of cosmos for the territory, several political personalities participated in the event, representing the Canton Ticino: Andrea Bernardazzi, Mayor of Collina d'Oro, Michele Foletti, Mayor of Lugano, Paolo Bianchi, Director of the Public Health Division of the Canton Ticino, representing MPs Raffaele De Rosa and Christian Vitta, Director of the Department of Finance and Economy of the Canton Ticino.

"We all know IBSA as a precursor and visionary company from a chemical and pharmaceutical perspective; I am therefore not surprised by its ability to transform into reality those visions, sometimes even futuristic, of projects that seemed to never come to light, such as the redevelopment of an entire district, which in the inter-municipal master plan of Pian Scairolo is called PQ4", commented Bernardazzi, Mayor of Collina d'Oro. "I am thinking of the enormous result achieved: creating modern industrial and pharmaceutical buildings, perfectly integrated, with sustainable solutions, where the "green" element is central, even predominant. The wish that today I want to convey to IBSA on the part of the Municipality of Collina d'Oro is to continue on this path: not only to be motivated by innovation, sustainability and beauty in your future projects, but also to be a source of inspiration for those of others".

The Mayor of Lugano, Michele Foletti, emphasised how IBSA's mission extends beyond the project that today we are honoured to inaugurate, through the productive collaboration with the City of Lugano. "Culture and knowledge are among the few things that can be shared and donated without diminishing them at the source; the close collaboration between the City of Lugano and the IBSA Foundation for scientific research has the merit of enriching and diversifying the cultural and educational offer, through the networking of skills and knowledge and the promotion of valuable and innovative projects, such as: Culture and Health, Art and Science, as well as the important support to the Faculty of Biomedicine of USI. Science and art can inspire each other, and for this reason it is important to promote the dialogue between two apparently distant disciplines", stated Foletti. "I'd like to recall the project La Scienza a regola d'Arte ("State-of-the-Art Science"), a series of conversations between artists and scientists organised at LAC and launched in 2017, in collaboration with MASI, which focuses on the relationship between art, science, technology and research. Further support was provided by IBSA to the 3Achain project: the blockchain created by the City of Lugano as part of the economic promotion activity of the Lugano Living Lab urban laboratory. An initiative aimed at strengthening the crypto-friendly vocation of the city, where the solidity of the partners joining the platform is crucial for its accessibility and reliability".

The Director of the DSS Public Health Division, Paolo Bianchi, spoke on behalf of the State Councillor Raffaele De Rosa, unfortunately absent, due to an accident. "An industrial reality like IBSA is also essential from a strictly healthcare perspective", underlined Bianchi. "We have long understood how necessary it is for our territory to be able to rely directly on companies with leading skills and production capacities, in order to ensure the supply of medicines. It is important to recognise this need, and to support local production".

"Present in our country for over 35 years, IBSA is a multinational company with an international ? and at the same time local ? footprint which has allowed a continuous exchange and development of new skills, as well as an acceleration of innovation and technology transfer processes, thus representing a critical resource for our territory, for the development and growth of the Ticino economy and the social fabric", concluded MP Christian Vitta, Director of the Department of Finance and Economy of the Canton Ticino. "It is from the collaboration and synergy with entrepreneurial realities such as IBSA that our canton can further improve its competitiveness, especially in an area with great potential, such as that of pharmaceuticals and life sciences".

IBSA Institut Biochimique SA

IBSA (Institut Biochimique SA) is a Swiss multinational pharmaceutical Company, founded in 1945 in Lugano. Today, its products are present in over 90 Countries on 5 continents, through the Company's 17 subsidiaries located in Europe, China, and the United States. The company has a consolidated turnover of 800 million CHF, and employs over 2,000 people between headquarters, subsidiaries and production sites. IBSA holds 90 families of approved patents, plus others under development, as well as a vast portfolio of products, covering 10 therapeutic areas: reproductive medicine, endocrinology, pain and inflammation, osteoarticular, aesthetic medicine, dermatology, uro-gynaecology, cardiometabolic, respiratory, consumer health. It is also one of the largest operators worldwide in the area of reproductive medicine, and one of the world's leaders in hyaluronic acid-based products. IBSA has based its philosophy on four pillars: Person, Innovation, Quality and Responsibility.