History
Siegfried has reinvented itself several times in our 150 year history, but what has always remained is our business foundation in chemistry and synthesis.
Siegfried's early beginnings
In 1870, Samuel Benoni Siegfried, took over his grandfather’s pharmacy. Three years later, with his brother-in-law Johann Wilhelm Dürselen, he founded the company “Siegfried & Dürselen, Chemical-Pharmaceutical Preparations Production and Drugs Business.”
Benoni Siegfried soon recognized the market potential of producing pharmaceutical substances in larger quantities. In the early 1870s he declared “other pharmacists need the same basic substances as me. So, I’m going to produce ether, chloral and phenol in large volumes for them.”
Pharmacists realized that it was safer and easier to buy these substances rather than self-produce and in 1880, Benoni Siegfried stepped away from his pharmacy to fully focus on his industrial business. Right from the very start, Siegfried produced and packaged products for third parties – contract manufacturing – the core business today and a constant throughout the company’s 150-year history.
In the 1892/93 financial year, sales revenue passed the million-franc mark for the first time. By the turn of the century, Siegfried employed 60 people – five times more than when it started, and the best was yet to come!
Becoming a globally leading CDMO
Until the early 1980s, Siegfried offered a broad range of services. The family business developed and produced fine chemicals, specialist drugs and generics, pest control agents and natural products, trading them around the world. The company was branching out across the globe and had agents and licensees operating in more than 100 countries. From 1983 onward, Siegfried focused on the development and production of active pharmaceutical ingredients and drugs for the research-based pharmaceutical industry.
From 2010, the company grew to critical size thanks to acquisitions, crossing the one-billion mark in 2021. After shifting its focus to contract manufacturing, Siegfried’s global network also changed. The technology at the different locations is coordinated in such a way that individual production steps can be completed at whichever location can achieve the best possible quality at the lowest possible cost.
Today, Siegfried operates at 12 locations in seven countries on three continents. Eight of these have been acquired since 2012. In 2020, Siegfried took over two pharmaceutical production facilities from Novartis in Spain: Barberà del Vallès and El Masnou. In 2022, Siegfried broke ground on a new production facility in the German town of Minden. With a total investment of 100 million USD this was largest investment project in the company’s history.
The latest acquisition was DINAMIQS in May 2023 to build a best-in-class biotech CDMO for cell and gene therapies. Through this acquisition, Siegfried is expanding its footprint in the biologics space and will create significant growth opportunities in this exciting and dynamic market segment.
Siegfried through the
last 150 years
1873: Samuel Benoni Siegfried founded “Siegfried & Dürselen, Chemical-Pharmaceutical Preparations Production and Drugs Business” together with his brother-in-law Johann Dürselen Wilhelm, launching the first pharmacy wholesaler.
1904: With his health ailing, Benoni Siegfried converted the company from a sole proprietorship into a joint stock corporation. The first Board of Directors was set up and the newly established company took over all assets, worth 1,360,000 CHF.
1927: Fed up with import barriers against European pharmaceutical firms, Siegfried, together with distribution partner Gane & Ingram, set up its first US subsidiary, “Ganes Chemical Works” in New Jersey.
1973: On Siegfried’s 100th anniversary, the company was listed on the Swiss Stock Exchange (SWX).
1991: Siegfried implemented a new strategic direction, focusing on contract manufacturing for the pharmaceutical industry rather than researching and making its own drugs, making the business thrive.
2001: The company was split into two core divisions, Siegfried for contract manufacturing and Sidroga for Natural Products. Also during this time, Ganes Chemicals was integrated into the Siegfried Group as Sigfried (USA).
2005: Siegfried acquired the Penick Corporation in New Jersey, USA, a company specialized in API production for pain management drugs that can only be manufactured in the USA for the American market.
2007: A pharmaceutical production facility in Malta was launched to meet demands of the successful generics business. Also during this time an inhalation technology team was ramped up in Munich, and Sidroga and the biotechnology division were sold.
2012: Siegfried entered the sterile filling business through the acquisition of Alliance Medical Products (AMP) in Irvine, California, USA.
2013: Siegfried started construction of a new production site in Nantong, China, expanding production facilities for APIs. Construction also started on a new production building in Zofingen.
2014: Siegfried acquired Hameln Pharmaceuticals in Germany, significantly increasing its sterile filling capacity.
2015: Siegfried took over three production sites from BASF based in Evionnaz, Switzerland, Minden, Germany, and Saint-Vulbas, France. Through this purchase, Siegfried reached critical scale in API production (Drug Substances).
2021: Siegfried acquired two pharmaceutical manufacturing sites from Novartis in Barberà del Vallès and El Masnou, Spain, reaching critical size in ready-made formulations (Drug Products). A Center of Excellence was also established in Barcelona.
2022: Siegfried broke ground on a new large-scale production plant in Minden, Germany.
2023: Siegfried opens global Development Center for Drug Products in Barcelona.
2023: Siegfried begins construction of a new global R&D Center for Drug Substances in Evionnaz.
2023: Siegfried acquired a majority stake in DINAMIQS, a Swiss-based biotechnology company, expanding its footprint in the biologics space.