Olon
Revolutionising Pharma with an Innovative Global R&D Model

Italy is among the leading pharma producers in Europe. According to National Institute of Statistics data, Italy has 174 pharma manufacturing facilities, with over €3 billion allocated to R&D alone. Recently, Italy’s pharma industry took another leap, with one of its leading active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) producers, Olon, announcing the creation of a global R&D hub.

“Olon’s new R&D hub will serve as a centre of excellence for CDMOs and generics developers across the country and the rest of Europe, bolstering the company’s aim to expand and diversify the knowledge-base and technology tools that are used for API manufacturing,” says Giorgio Bertolini, Vice President R&D at Olon.

The central R&D hub will integrate with Olon’s existing research centres and 11 manufacturing plants spread across seven global locations, thus forming an innovative global R&D networking model with a consolidated information base of advanced manufacturing processes, high containment technologies, and API development best practices. Olon’s vision is to link all its existing and upcoming R&D centres to the central hub and facilitate a seamless pipeline between all its medium sized labs, enabling the exchange of crucial API development expertise and knowledge across the different sites. This unique model will allow every Olon research and manufacturing site to benefit from the global industry-leading knowledge, no matter where they are based, and support the drug development operations of its clients.

Olon is investing €10 million to build a dedicated space for bolstering its sustainable API development technologies. Its mission is to enhance the industry’s current biocatalysis and photochemistry workflows, and empower pharma stakeholders to produce novel molecules and innovative synthesis methods that drive forward API development and facilitate the creation of more effective drugs. The investment also focuses on building cutting-edge containment technologies that push the boundaries of plant safety and optimise product quality.

The construction of Olon’s revolutionary R&D hub began in May this year, and is expected to be complete by the second quarter of 2023. In preparation for the same, Olon has already recruited 50 new researchers, expanding its existing research team to a total of 350 members, who will now be able to collaborate seamlessly across geographical borders as one centralised unit for meeting the CDMO needs of global pharmaceutical organisations.

Pushing the Boundaries of Possibility for API Development

The R&D hub will also help Olon to expand its extensive product portfolio, which includes over 300 generic APIs and more than 450 drug master files. After applying the optimised best practices of the R&D hub, Olon will be able to achieve faster and safer development of novel pharmaceutical ingredients, including new chemical entities (NCEs), advanced intermediates, enzymes, proteins, rDNA origin peptides, high potency drugs, and controlled substances.

Olon’s focus on quality and adherence to containment standards will also strengthen, which will help the company gain more control over the manufacture of controlled substances. The know-how delivered by the R&D hub will allow the company to apply industry-leading safety and security protocols, boosting its ability to develop controlled substance APIs in compliance with all industry regulations.

The company, in alignment with its R&D hub, is also ready to conduct an ‘Innovation Initiative’ to foster partnerships with various universities in Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands, and support the development of new API technologies.

Olon’s R&D hub will certainly carve a niche in API development for pharma companies across Italy and Europe to follow. The revolutionary initiative of Olon will push the limits of what is possible in API development and empower more pharma organisations to quickly follow in its footsteps to deliver effective life-saving drugs.