In 2023, Suanfarma commemorates an important milestone – the 30th anniversary of successful operations and growth. Founded in 1993, the company has developed into a B2B life science partner committed to health and innovation by developing, manufacturing, and distributing high quality ingredients for the pharmaceutical industry in an innovative and sustainable way.
“The company was founded as a response to growing demand for active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), and has gradually expanded its reach,” says Daniel Rivero, Global Industrial Director of the Group. Today, the company provides its services to more than 3,000 active customers in over 70 countries, using a network of 12 local offices placed strategically around the world.
Over recent years the company has achieved the highest growth in its history and its expansion has significantly extended Suanfarma’s industrial and development capacity, so that even more patients can benefits from its products and services.
Rivero points out that with its focus on active pharmaceutical ingredients, the company is truly ‘At the core of a better life’. “An API is a substance that triggers a physiological response in the body to a certain disease, i.e., any disruption of the body’s normal functioning,” he explains, adding that the active ingredients are the core part of medications and nutraceutical supplements that improve the lives of millions of people every day, enabling them to live healthy lives regardless of their personal or social circumstances.
Valued partner
“Suanfarma is a global partner in the ingredients business, with the capacity to produce and distribute high-quality products all over the world in an innovative and sustainable way, with a special presence in regulated markets.”
Within its Industrial division, Suanfarma provides services as a CDMO (Contract Development and Manufacturing Organisation), a one-stop-shop for producing small complex molecule APIs using fermentation and chemical synthesis technologies that can be used alone, or in combination.
The CDMO division develops, scales, manufactures, and commercialises either innovative or generic APIs, covering clients’ projects across all stages. The ability to offer both fermentation and chemical synthesis is an important aspect that differentiates Suanfarma from others.
Rivero points out that the company´s vision is to enable its customers to reach their goals in terms of the number of people reached. “As such, we focus primarily on technology. We are not only dedicated to the products that we produce ourselves, but also provide a distribution service, linking customers with manufacturers. Within the distribution business, we offer more than 1,000 different APIs worldwide.”
And Suanfarma’s success is undisputable – every year, over 100 million people are treated with the company’s anti-infectives and over 200 thousand with their immunosuppressors. “We have not focused on any specific therapeutical application, but offer our knowledge, technology, and experience to our customers who want to invest in high-added value products that fit into our capacities and capabilities,” explains Rivero. “Customers bring their ideas in innovation, we do the rest in terms of scaling, manufacturing and commercialising.”
Impressive achievement
Daniel Rivero admits that recent business growth has been a challenge in its own right. “Consolidating the know-how and expertise as well as making sure that each of our new companies can provide the latest technology has been a major task. The challenge has been to advance and invest in line with our customers’ growth, upgrading our sites to the highest standards of the industry, maintaining flexibility without incurring additional costs for our customers.”
“And that has been our greatest achievement – transforming our facilities from being specialists in proprietary products into a well-balanced company able to produce a larger number of products, including proprietary, novel APIs, novel manufacturing processes for older APIs, innovative products used for antitumoral therapies or for medical devices, effective management of controlled substances such as opioids, synthetic cannabinoid derivates…
“And all this based on our core pillars of customer relationships: honesty, transparency, high ethics, and a huge sense of professionalism approaching each project as its own. As our purpose is to reach as many people with our products as possible, we don’t measure achievements only in terms of financial results but in terms of the successes of our customers.”
Growing in partnerships
Suanfarma is committed to health and innovation, which is why it develops and produces accessible raw materials in accordance with the highest regulatory requirements of the EMA and the FDA. Moreover, the company is also devoted to environmentally responsible practices, embracing green chemistry and prioritising environmental protection. To this end, their robust R&D team works on the development of technologies to achieve maximum efficiency in its processes, to incorporate cutting-edge active ingredients into its portfolio.
Business partnerships are an important element of further growth. Suanfarma has recently announced a collaboration with Reyoung Pharmaceutical to expand the existing portfolio of anti-infective and antibacterial API products. Another important collaboration agreement has been signed with Willow Bioscience for a cell line productivity optimisation development programme for manufacturing a large volume anti-infective APIs through precision fermentation.
“Going forward, we will be looking globally at more acquisitions, bringing in new companies that complement our services. Internally, we are now consolidating some customer projects to be ready for validation by the end of the year, and at the same time demonstrating that we can simplify the supply chain without any risk to them.”
Over the last few years, the company has invested a total of over €45 million in its new companies. The plan is to invest an additional €50 million in capacity expansion in the near future, so that Suanfarma is capable of sustaining its value proposition of being ready to produce novel molecules. “We are ready for novel products and novel methods, and we are also striving to enhance our sustainability efforts to demonstrate our commitment to the planet,” affirms Rivero in concluding.
