1985-2025, celebrating the past and envisioning the future: 40 years of IBSA

It was a hot day of August– August 19, 1985 – when Arturo Licenziati, a young entrepreneur from Rome, stepped through the doors of IBSA, a small, struggling pharmaceutical company founded in Ticino in 1945: few employees, minimal resources, and an uncertain future. But where many saw a company doomed to disappear, he saw an opportunity.

Today, August 19, 2025, we celebrate 40 years since that pivotal moment. An anniversary that tells the story of a long journey of transformation, courage, and vision. It’s the story of a company that, starting from a local reality, has gradually built an international presence, always guided by the same principle: innovating to concretely improve people’s quality of life.

A BUSINESS IDEA THAT HAS ALWAYS LOOKED AHEAD

From the very beginning, Arturo Licenziati chose not to follow the mainstream, but to chart an original path: investing in advanced therapeutic solutions and developing drugs in the best form, tailored to the daily needs of doctors and patients.

From those first steps came IBSA’s distinctive products – fertility hormones, softgel capsules, orodispersible films, transdermal patches, hybrid hyaluronic acid complexes – along with a corporate culture that places the Person at the centre and relies on Commitment, Courage, Cleverness and that special aptitude for seizing opportunities (“Chance”) that fuelled the company’s expansion.

Today, IBSA has a product portfolio covering 10 therapeutic areas, 20 subsidiaries and a network of distributors that allows us to serve over 90 countries.

A MINI-WEBSITE AND A BOOK DEDICATED TO THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY

To celebrate this occasion, IBSA has launched a mini-website to share stories, interviews, visual and written content, data, and projects. It’s a way to preserve and celebrate the work of the People who have contributed to the company’s growth, while also offering an overview of IBSA’s current identity. The website includes several sections:

• The dream: Interview with our CEO and President Arturo Licenziati
• hIBStory: IBSA timeline, with the history of its products and manufacturing sites
• The voices of IBSA: Stories of the people who were there from the early days
• The value of sustainability: Insights into our ESG commitment
• Science for all: Timeline of IBSA Foundation for scientific research

The same contents are also available in a dedicated book, with a digital version that can be browsed here.

“CREATING TOMORROW”: A COLLECTIVE VISION OF IBSA’S FUTURE

What will IBSA’s future look like? Starting from this question, in December 2024 IBSA launched Creating Tomorrow, an internal creative contest aimed at all subsidiaries and departments within the Group.

Each team addressed a specific theme, translating it into images, videos, texts, or audio contributions. The results were surprising in their variety, quality and depth.  Projects arrived from different places and in different languages, but united by a clear, distinctive trait – one that comes from people who live IBSA every day and share its identity, values, and energy.