Botanical science applied to human health: Indena at the forefront for the challenges of the future

Milan, 9^th November 2021–A double experience, digital and physical, where celebration and science met, was held last night, November 8^th, in Milan, Italy, and, via streaming, all over the world. It was the peak of Indena’s Centennial, its first Phygital Summit to celebrate one hundred years of botanical excellence applied to medicinal plants, and to tell the company’s vision for the next century. Theme of the congress was the Botanical Science applied to human health. The history of taxanes as a milestone of pharmaceutical excellence applied to medicinal plants, the scientific approach to dietary supplements, the botanicals quality: all those topics have characterized Indena’s history from the very beginning.

Indena’s leadership in the field of botanical active ingredients is deeply rooted in the pioneering spirit of the founders, whom the company still owes the capacity today to make the difference in innovation, quality, technology, manufacturing and sustainability.

Opening the Summit, IdB Holding Vice President Benedetto Della Beffa, grandson of the founder, declares: “Everything began on the first of August 1921, when Carlo Boccaccio Inverni published his first list of titrated botanical extracts. It was the beginning of a new company, which my grandfather Biagio Alberto Della Beffa, then a Cavalry Officer in Permanent Active Service, would later join. In the years that followed, his son Luigi Della Beffa, my father, grew the company, making it a player of global scope. Today Indena is global market leader in botanical derivatives for the pharmaceutical and nutraceutical industries and offers avant-garde CDMO (custom development manufacturing organization) services. If we can boast 90% exports and can number important multinational companies in the sector among our main customers, this is due to the founders’ strong vision, which still guides us today and brings capital oriented towards long-term results in relation to more sustainable growth”.

One hundred years of history is an important heritage, but it is also the best link towards the future. Whose challenges Indena will face thanks to the solidity of the company and to a vision that combines experience and tradition with a constant drive to innovate.

“The intriguing opportunities that are ahead of us in the future include several new areas of development. People are looking with interest to their holistic wellness; for this reason personalized care will grow in importance and the focus will gradually move from treatment to prevention– says Indena CEO Daniele Giavini - Encouraging and empowering people to become a healthier version of themselves is a goal with global impacts, made possible also by the advent of digital health solutions. Indena develops, manufactures and sells several active ingredients that can successfully contribute to this new idea of well-being".

Digital healthcare, continuous technology expansion and sustainability: Indena’s strategic points for the future

Digital healthcare will be one of the key points for people future wellness. Through artificial intelligence platforms, Indena will be able to extend the beneficial indications of existing botanical ingredients and to even identify new leads for additional indications. A project that fits very well to Indena’s credo “Science is our Nature”.

Moreover, as Indena strongly believes in continuous technology expansion, it has major investments in the instalment and expansion of state-of-the-art production lines for new developments in the space of high potency molecules, with the aim of increasing the company’s ability to provide a broader and more integrated CDMO service to pharmaceutical companies that are finally going back more and more to quality and reliability.

A sustainable approach with a high and still growing care of the environment is the Company’s natural way of working. Throughout its long history, Indena has always been focused on the sources of the plant procurement and the entire supply chain. This also ensures traceability, transparency and respect for the environment and the communities involved.

Sustainability was a guideline also in organizing the First Indena Phygital Summit. For the event, Indena has designed and implemented a sustainable management system in order to get international certification according to the ISO 20121 standard, which offers guidance and best practice to help control events’ social, economic and environmental impact: low consumption LEDs, no disposable plastic, equipment recycling, local suppliers, safety and security, CO₂ emissions calculation. The ISO 20121 sustainable management process is voluntary and it will be verified by the third party TÜV NORD through three moments of inspection: before, during and after the event.

Indena supports scientific research, since 100 years and in the future

A scientific approach to the identification, development and production of botanical active ingredients, continuous investment in research, design of proprietary technologies for the quality, safety and efficacy of ingredients; these are the pillars on which Indena has built its leadership in the botanical sector.

Some of Indena’s history and key innovations was presented during the summit by important scientists and Indena Research & Development representatives, introduced by the scientific journalist Silvia Bencivelli: Pietro Allegrini, Research and Development Director at Indena S.p.A. (Natural products as active ingredients); Giovanni Appendino, Full Professor of Organic Chemistry at the University of Eastern Piedmont (Taxus baccata L.: from a tree of death to a tree of life); Marcel Rozencweig, Chief Medical Officer at NeoTX and co-founder of the company (The taxanes: a success story); Patrick Soon-Shiong, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NantWorks, physician, surgeon, scientist, inventor, technologist and philanthropist and Neil Desai, Founder, CEO and President at Aadi Bioscience, Inc., an inventor of the Nab® technology, Abraxane® and FyarroTM (The journey of Abraxane®and recent developments of NAB® technology); Paul Reddell, Executive Director & Chief Scientific Officer at QBiotics Group (Ecology-driven drug discovery); Parris Kidd, Chief Science Officer and Director of Quality at BrainMD (Meriva^® curcumin phytosome^® and Indena medical breakthrough); Ernesto Marco Martinelli, QA & Regulatory Advisor at Indena S.p.A. (Scientific approach to dietary supplements & botanicals quality).

Looking to the future and keeping to support research, Indena continuously welcomes new talents, especially in the scientific area, encouraging their scouting, training and professional integration.

Among the initiatives of its Centennial, Indena has established a biennial prize named after its founder, the "Indena - Biagio Alberto Della Beffa" prize, realized in partnership with the International Summer School on Natural Products - ISSNP.

The prize is dedicated to young researchers in chemistry, pharmacy and pharmaceutical chemistry and technology who intend to work in the field of Natural Products Chemistry. To them Indene is offering a financial reward and an internship in the company, which also includes specific trainings.

The first edition of the prize was held in 2021 and the first Indena Physical Summit celebrated the three winners of the award, three talented ladies from Italian and international Universities: Valeria Cavalloro, a PhD student at the University of Pavia, Silvia Scarpato, a PhD student at the University of Naples Federico II and Sofia Drakopoulou, a PhD candidate at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.

The three winners are the witnesses of the new generation of scholars that Indena will always be proud to support, because "Science is our Nature - since 1921".

Indena CEO Luca Giorgetti closed the event thanking the Della Beffa family and all the participants, and launched the video Indena – The Genius Behind, dedicated to the founder Biagio Alberto Della Beffa and Indena’s centennial history.

Pictures and video of the event will be available HERE