Traditional and innovative pharmaceutical chemistry once again has real prospects for the future in Radebeul

Arevipharma GmbH, Meißner Straße 35 in Radebeul, was sold by the previous shareholders around the Strüngmann brothers in a notarised agreement dated 2 December 2020. The new owners come from South Korea. They have their roots in pharmaceutical research in the highly innovative environment of the University of Seoul.

A brief historical review:

• In addition to the company Dr Madaus & Co, the Chemical Factory von Heyden in particular established the pharmaceutical tradition of the town of Radebeul.
• Salicylic acid was of decisive importance for the establishment and development of the von Heyden Chemical Factory.
• In 1875, the Radebeul factory was put into operation at the site of today's Arevipharma GmbH.
• The world's first industrial-scale synthesis of pharmaceuticals was carried out in this factory.
• From 1897, its derivative, acetylsalicylic acid, was produced (marketed under the brand name Acetylin). [Active ingredient also in the parallel development by Bayer under the brand name Aspirin]
• In GDR times, the company was part of the VEB Arzneimittelwerk Dresden (AWD).
• In 1991 it was taken over by ASTA Medica, the pharmaceutical subsidiary of Degussa AG.
• The plant was to be closed in 2003. Thanks to the dedicated efforts of the workforce under the leadership of works council chairwoman Bärbel Starke - for which she received the Radebeul Courage Award in 2004 - and the entire region, the plant was successfully taken over by HEXAL AG under the management of the Strüngmann brothers.
• Following the sale of HEXAL AG to the Novartis Group in 2005, Arevipharma GmbH has remained the property of the Strüngmann brothers to this day.

The Strüngmann brothers deserve great respect for the fact that they have remained loyal to pharmaceutical chemistry in Radebeul and thus also to the workforce, even in economically difficult times. They have thus safeguarded an important piece of industrial tradition.

With the transition to the new shareholders, who have emerged from the highly innovative environment of the University of Seoul, the pharmaceutical site in Radebeul has a new perspective for the future. The considerable investments made by the city of Radebeul in the infrastructural environment of the site in recent years are thus bearing fruit.

Mayor Bert Wendsche (non-party) recalls: "In 2003, when we were struggling together with the workforce to preserve the site, we travelled together to Holzkirchen near Munich to visit the owners of Hexal, the Strüngmann brothers. In the end, we managed to convince them to invest in the Radebeul site."

Today, in 2020, the company was once again threatened with closure. Mrs Starke therefore contacted the city again at the end of August. Together with the local management headed by Dr Jung and the support of a very broad network, it was finally possible to facilitate the transfer to the new South Korean owners.

"It was always a balancing act to prevent the imminent closure of the site as a last resort. An immensely broad network of supporters in the political and official sphere, from the President of the State Parliament, Dr Matthias Rößler (CDU), to numerous state and district representatives, played their part in the success of the project and moved many a stone out of the way - respect and many thanks for that," said Mayor Bert Wendsche (non-party): "The Radebeul pharmaceutical tradition has a real future perspective again. Strength, luck and success to the new owners, the management and, above all, the entire workforce," congratulated the Lord Mayor.