1921-2024
100 years of botanical excellence
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Since 1921, in a landscape of conservative nature lovers, we have been the progressive people looking at nature in another way, through science, constantly following the plants.
History moves as fast as Indena’s innovations: 100 years of ideas, inventions, products and patents that, in addition to leaving a permanent mark on the industry of nature, have been woven into the history of Italy.
Embrace our journey through time, to understand how we have always transformed nature into something that may be powerful and useful, and to know more about Indena’s role both for the phytochemical culture and for human health at large.
A special book for Indena: the story of our long journey in Nature and Science, starting over 100 years ago and always ready to write a new chapter.
Click here to watch the video in Italian.
Relive our first Phygital Summit to celebrate our heritage and vision for the next century.
Indena has changed along with Nature since 1921, innovating every step of the way. To celebrate our 100 years of history, we created the Phytocast Podcast Series: an original way to share our exciting journey through time with you.
CLICK HERE TO BECOME A PHYTOLISTENERThe founders indeed opened the way to a totally new approach in dealing with the business of medicinal plants, applying a modern industrial vision. Their aim was to make available to users, at that time mainly pharmacies, not just medicinal plants themselves, which offered insufficient guarantees of efficacy and stability, but instead extracts from these plants titrated in their active ingredients. Dosage was therefore easier and chemical identification safer. Quality, scientific inspiration and rigour, industrial approach: these are the pillars that allow the company to stand out in the Italian market.
Production began in Milan but was transferred to Alzano Lombardo in 1943 to continue during wartime. In 1945, at the end of World War II, production returned to Milan, where a new modern plant was built to meet the needs of a business that not only had never stopped, but had continued to grow. With its scientific approach and continuous focus on quality and excellence, laboratory research and development was stepped up and top sector specialists brought in. Manufacturing output would combine botanical extracts with fine chemicals such as alkaloids, glycosides and amino acids.
Luigi Della Beffa, son of the founder Biagio Alberto Della Beffa, joined the company. His vision directed the company to further expand its business relations, dealing with major pharmaceutical brands. The company began the manufacture of finished medicinal products, based on its own plant derivatives.
The new production site was opened just outside Milan, in Settala. The factory was a model of innovation right from the outset, utilizing the latest machinery and laboratory equipment. Regular refurbishment and further modernization have taken place since then and today the facility is one of the most innovative in the sector for the extraction and processing of botanical extracts, employing the most sophisticated technologies able to process both botanically derived ingredients and specific molecules.
Under the guidance of Luigi Della Beffa new markets are explored and the business is expanded abroad.
In 1977, Inverni Della Beffa develops Indena (INdustria DErivati NAturali), the new company that quickly reached the position of leader on international markets which today account for some 90% of the turnover. Pharmaceutical and nutraceuticals were the reference industries, all over the world. Indena, consistent with the spirit of its founders, kept working on quality, research, excellence in process, products and people.
Indena further consolidated its investments in Research & Development and in the most advanced technologies. Indena made choices that position the company at international level with a scientific approach, the rigour of its processes, and capacity for innovation being the reasons for its excellence. Along the decade, nutraceuticals became more and more important and scientifically recognised. Indena captured market shares with multicomponent plant extracts.
The parent company IdB Holding was created in the 1990s and Indena opened international branches in Europe and the USA. Production sites are opened in France and India. There was also the acquisition of the company Bernett srl based in the small Lombard town of Palestro. The third generation of the Della Beffa family, Benedetto and Biagio, both sons of Luigi Della Beffa, joined the company in the late 1990s.
It was a decade of inventions at Indena. In addition to scientific research on medicinal plant derivatives, the company worked for years on the study of both the technology and new formulations to make the extracts increasingly safe and effective. A significant example is the thinking behind Phytosome®, a proprietary system for the formulation of extracts that markedly optimizes their bioavailability and consequently their effectiveness, scientifically documented.
Indena’s plant at Settala is a model of innovation from the outset. Today it is one of the most innovative in the sector for the extraction and processing of botanicals. In addition, further technological expansion has made it possible to manufacture complex synthetic molecules. In the first decade of XXI Century, cutting-edge technological innovations were introduced in the Settala plant, for a sophisticated CDMO - Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization activity.
Indena has consolidated its position as a world leader in the sector of botanical extracts.
Innovation and implementation of the most advanced technologies, research on new products and personalized applications, quality and sustainability: this is Indena's vision for the next 100 years.
The company continues to draw inspiration from the spirit of its founders a century on: their vision, scientific inspiration and rigour and stability remain the ingredients of quality for a major player in the global market.
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