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
2023
Integration of Pharmax Pharmaceuticals (read more)
The story continues