Our History

A long-established and proven track record

The origins of the Acino – which was named “Schweizerhall” until 2008 – date back to 1836 when the company was founded around a saltworks operation near Basel, Switzerland. Subsequently, the company widened its activities to become both a manufacturer and trader and enlarged its portfolio with value added products including chemical specialties such as feeding stuffs, fertilizers and active pharmaceutical ingredients.

In 1994, the company went public on the Swiss stock exchange (SIX: ACIN) and gradually streamlined its business to focus on chemicals, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology. The subsequent years saw a focusing of the company’s activities on advanced drug delivery with the acquisition of Cimex Pharma AG, a Swiss supplier of complex solid oral dosage forms, in 2004, and of Novosis AG, Europe’s second largest manufacturer of transdermal patches and of biodegradable implants, in 2006.

  • 1836

    Foundation of “Schweizerhall” near Basel​

  • 1994

    Schweizerhall goes public at SIX Swiss ​stock exchange​

  • 2004

    Acquisition of Cimex Pharma in Liesberg, Switzerland​

  • 2006

    Acquisition of Novosis in Miesbach, Germany

  • 2008

    Change of the group and subsidiaries name to “Acino”

  • 2011

    Acquisition of combined Middle East and African Business of Cephalon

    Acquisition of Mepha’s production and R&D facilities and the business in MEA, LATAM and Asia. Commercialization of products under the brand “Acino Switzerland”

  • 2013

    Takeover by Avista Capital and Nordic Capital – Acino is delisted from the stock exchange

  • 2014

    Acquisition of Copharm in Russia

  • 2015

    Acquisition of Pharma Start in Ukraine (read more)

  • 2016

    Acquisition of MENA operations and product rights from Norgine​ (read more)

    Aquisition of Takeda’s manufacturing plant in Põlva, Estonia (read more)

    In–licensing agreement for the combination painkiller Maxigesic of AFT

    Divestment of Novosis patch and implant business

    Headquarters move​ to Zurich

  • 2017

    Acquisition of Litha Healthcare in South Africa (read more)

    Distribution partnership with Merck in the CIS (read more)

  • 2018

    Acquisition of Women’s Health portfolio in Russia

  • 2019

    Acino opens new offices in Turkey and Egypt

  • 2020

    Acquisition of parts of Takeda’s primary care portfolio in selected countries in the Middle East, Africa, and Ukraine (read more)

    Acino receives EU GMP certification in Ukraine

    Acino attains B-BBEE certification in South Africa

  • 2021

    Acquisition of IlmixGroup portfolio and pipeline in Russia (read more)

    Acino and Pharmax collaborate to align with UAE’s strategy to become a regional pharmaceutical manufacturing hub (read more)

    Merz Therapeutics and Acino sign distribution agreement in Ukraine, CIS and Mongolia (read more)

    Abu Dhabi based ADQ, one of the region’s largest holding companies with a broad portfolio of major enterprises spanning key sectors, signs agreement to acquire Acino

  • 2022

    Takeover by ADQ investment and holding company ​

    Acquisition ​of selected ​Aspen’s brands ​in South Africa (read more)​

    Acino attains Level 1 B-BBEE status in South Africa for the third year in a row

    The story continues