The story
Menarini was founded in 1886 in the small laboratory of the Farmacia Internazionale in Naples, founded by Doctor Archimede Menarini. Alongside its regular galenic production, the first medicines distributed under the Menarini brand were soon introduced: Metarsile, a restorative based on iron phospho-methylarsinate, produced until the 1960s, and Euzymina, a solution of digestive ferments with lecithin indicated for the treatment of digestive disorders. In 1915, the business was moved from Naples to Florence, due to its proximity to numerous glassworks.
In the 1960s, it acquired the Spanish laboratory Puig Sala, now Laboratorios Menarini, founded in 1924 in Barcelona. In 1972 the headquarters moved from Barcelona to Badalona, expanding the facilities to 15,000 m². Menarini Spain and its subsidiaries in Central America and the Caribbean focus on research and development of medicines for cardiovascular diseases, anti-inflammatory drugs and pain relief.
In 1976, Menarini Diagnostics was established, specialising in self-monitoring systems for glucose and in laboratory analysis. The division initially operated only in Italy as a distributor of laboratory systems; in the 1980s it opened a technology department with a quality control laboratory and its first production facility. From 1984 onwards, self-monitoring systems for diabetes were added to its laboratory instrumentation. In 1976, the Fondazione Internazionale Menarini was also established to promote research and knowledge in the fields of biology, pharmacology and medicine, economics and the humanities, and it organises international congresses with particular attention to medical disciplines.
In 1978, the Menarini Group acquired Malesci, a Florentine pharmaceutical company founded in 1850.
In 1982, the first affiliate in Central America and the Caribbean was established. The headquarters is located in Guatemala, where a production plant operates.
Between 1983 and 1984, the company acquired Guidotti of Pisa, Lusofarmaco of Milan and FIRMA. In 1992, the German company Berlin Chemie (founded in 1890) joined the group, opening up a new market in Central and Eastern Europe. In the same year, the Menarini France subsidiary was established. The Research Toxicology Center (RTC) was founded in 1987 in Pomezia, followed in 1992 by the Menarini Research Campus and in 2003 by the Menarini Biotech biotechnology plant.
In 1993, the L'Aquila plant was inaugurated. In 1994, Menarini entered the Indian market through a partnership with Raunaq Industries and in the same year opened its OTC (over-the-counter medicines) division, followed in 2001 by the acquisition of IE Ulagay, a former Turkish laboratory founded in 1903, and the establishment of its affiliate in Argentina, with a quality control laboratory in Buenos Aires.
In 2006, the Menarini-von Heyden production plant was inaugurated in Dresden and in 2008 the Menarini Mexico affiliate was established. In 2011, Invida was acquired and became Menarini Asia-Pacific, with a presence in numerous South Asian countries.
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In 2013, the Italian start-up Silicon Biosystems, winner of the 2012 "Premio Leonardo", specialising in rare cell research down to single-cell precision, was acquired and became Menarini Silicon Biosystems. The latter subsequently acquired all corporate activities related to the CellSearch system.
In 2014, Menarini Biomarkers was established for the research and development of biomarkers for prenatal diagnosis without amniocentesis, as well as in the field of lung and ocular cancers. In the same year, the group opened a new pharmaceutical production plant in Kaluga (Russian Federation).
In March 2018, the company announced the appointment of a new board of directors, marking the first time that an external manager, Eric Cornut, had taken on the role of chairman. Cornut, a Swiss national from Basel with a master's degree obtained in California, spent 20 years at Novartis and for two years, until April 2017, served as Director General of the EFPIA (European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations). On 12 September 2019, the board of directors appointed Elcin Barker Ergun as chief executive officer of the company.
In 2020, Menarini developed a rapid COVID-19 test amid the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy, capable of giving a result in just 20 minutes. The same year the group acquired Stemline Therapeutics, a United States-based biopharmaceutical company then listed on the Nasdaq, specialising in the development of innovative oncology therapies. As of 2025, Menarini Stemline has obtained approval from the main regulatory authorities worldwide for three oncology drugs.
From Wikipedia’s article on Menarini, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5