Despite all this dynamic change, there are some things in 2023 that Benoni Siegfried – founder, together with this brother-in-law, Johann Wilhelm Dürselen, of the “Fabrik Chemisch-Pharmazeutischer Präparate sowie Handel mit Drogen” (“Chemical-Pharmaceutical Preparations Production and Drugs Business”) in 1873 – would recognize. For example, science and technology are just as much the cornerstones of our business now as they were then. Pharmacopoieas are still the authoritative “recipe books” for the manufacture and quality assurance of drugs. Contract manufacturing for third parties was similarly part of the offer back then. The environment in which Benoni Siegfried operated was also highly competitive. Innovative strength and the desire to do the best job possible were as crucial to successful development then as they are now. 

Our founder would also note some differences between his day and ours. In the company’s first thirty years, Benoni Siegfried was – in the best sense of the word – an opportunist. As a young and still fledgling entrepreneur, he did whatever the customers wanted, even when many of the orders weren’t profitable – because the volumes they involved were too low, for example. As a result, the range of services that developed in the following decades was broad and largely disjointed. It was little wonder, therefore, that Siegfried routinely fell into difficulty. Selling the company was discussed several times. 

In the early 1980s, those in charge realized that the business needed to focus, and so they laid the foundation for the current direction, i.e., manufacturing active ingredients and ready-formulated drugs for third parties, rather than researching and clinically testing molecules, licensing and marketing them ourselves. It was also around this time that the era of Siegfried as a family business came to an end. 

If Benoni Siegfried were to give a speech for the 150th anniversary, he would no doubt be proud of what has become of his chemical-pharmaceutical preparations business – as proud as we are of the foundation he laid.

We want to say thank you to everyone who has contributed to Siegfried’s success in the last 150 years. To the many people in the production facilities, labs, in sales, administration, management and in all Siegfried divisions who were once and are now responsible for ensuring that we continue to offer first-class products and services. To our customers, who have placed their trust in us and without whom we would not exist. To our suppliers, with whom we work in partnership. To the authorities, towns and communities – our neighbors – that host Siegfried’s sites. To our investors and shareholders, who entrust us with their capital. And finally, to the Siegfried family, which is still very much associated with the company.

We are proud to be part of this longstanding and successful undertaking, and we are committed to ensuring it continues to thrive –we’ll continue to be “on the move”!