Arevipharma - Pharmazeutische Wirkstoffe und Lohnfertigung

150 years of experience

Our history

Arevipharma’s roots date back to 1874. The “Salicylic Acid Factory Dr. F. von Heyden” produced the world’s first active ingredient manufactured by a technical process. Production began in Dresden in 1874, and construction work on a larger production facility in the neighboring town of Radebeul began that same year. To this day, this remains the site of active ingredient production.

As early as the turn of the century, the company had 600 employees, and 20 years later, that number had already risen to 3,000. Following a period of inflation and economic crisis, the company undertook extensive modernization and investment in the early 1930s, including in the industrial synthesis of silicones. After the war ended and most of the facilities were dismantled, production resumed as early as October 1945.

A few years later, nationalization took place. The merger of the leading pharmaceutical companies in Dresden and the surrounding area gave rise to the Dresden Pharmaceutical Plant (AWD). Since the 1960s, the company has focused on the synthesis of highly effective cardiovascular and psychotropic drugs, as well as phytochemistry and phytotherapeutics.

After German reunification, AWD was privatized and began specializing in the development and production of synthetic active ingredients. This was followed by extensive, fundamental modernization efforts across all divisions.

In the late 1990s, the Radebeul Synthes facility underwent its first successful audit by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Arevipharma’s history

For 150 years

1874

Founded as the v. Heyden Chemical Factory and launched the world’s first large-scale production of an active ingredient (salicylic acid).

1978

The Dresden Pharmaceutical Plant (AWD) was one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the COMECON and was part of the GERMED combine in the GDR.

AWD operates a fully integrated pharmaceutical production facility for active pharmaceutical ingredients and finished drugs, in addition to large-scale raw material production and its own research.

1991–2007

The facility serves as an in-house active pharmaceutical ingredient production site with a succession of owners from the international pharmaceutical industry.