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Cipan
About us
Welcome to Cipan, our site in Lisbon (Portugal) with a rich heritage dating back to its founding in 1960. At Cipan, our unwavering commitment to health and well-being has been evident throughout our more than 60-year history. We have earned our place among the top 3 companies in the world for producing Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs), either through advanced fermentation processes or precise chemical synthesis methods. Our versatile approach positions us as the ideal partner to cater to the unique needs of every customer. Since 2016, Cipan has proudly been a part of the Suanfarma group, further enhancing our capabilities and global reach.
In addition, our own registry department with expertise in the entire value chain of the life cycle of a medicine, offers all its knowledge from development to preparation of the regulatory dossiers for commercialization.
We specialize in the chemistry of complex molecules, not just of the tetracyclines developed in the past, but any kind of CDMO projects to manufacture small molecules for pharmaceuticals, biotech and medical devices. This expertise provides us with a robust and flexible technological platform for our customers’ projects, enhancing their competitiveness in the market.
Our in-depth knowledge extends to fermentation processes, employing a wide array of microorganisms, downstream processing and purification techniques, chemical synthesis processes to manufacture a broad range of molecules including anti-infectives, psychotropics, cannabinoid derivatives, anti-tumoral products, and pharma healthcare and medical device applications.
Cipan is a leading company in the development, production and distribution of small-molecule pharmaceutical APIs for human and animal health.
CIPAN
Lisboa, Portugal
Our capabilities
Chemical synthesis
Our plant, Cipan, is designed to accommodate any typical synthesis process as it has the necessary elements and expertise to carry out complex reactions.
- Carbonylations & Decarbonylations
- Hydrogenations
- Friedel-Crafts acylations
- Diels-Alder
- Reductive alkylations
- Grignard reactions
- Turbo-Grignard mediated reactions
- Triflations / Tosylations
- Deglycosylations
- Demethylations of aromatic OMe
- Cryogenic reactions
It is worth noting our impressive array of chemical synthesis units, providing a total reaction capacity exceeding 600 m3. Our comprehensive equipment inventory includes industry-leading options, such as:
- Glass lined reactors
- Special alloy equipment
- Stainless Steel reactors
- Polymer coated reactors
- Reactions in Titanium
- Phase separations
- Distillations
With our cutting-edge infrastructure and diverse equipment, Cipan is primed to handle any synthesis challenge, meeting the unique requirements of your projects, offering our Kilo-lab for small scale project with our industrial vision to bring your innovative product to the market.
Fermentation
We are one of the largest fully GMP compliant fermentation facilities in Europe. Our specialization lies in the fermentation of microorganisms, offering a comprehensive range of services, from inoculum preparation (both in liquid suspension and culture trays) to large-volume fermentation.
Our fermentation facilities boast an extensive array of equipment, providing over 860m3 of fermentation volume, including:
- Laboratory-scale setups ranging from 2 to 10 liters.
- Pilot-scale capacities spanning from 150 to 1000 liters.
- Industrial-scale ranging from 36 to 116 m3.
We employ diverse technologies to ensure proper separation of the biomass from the culture medium. Furthermore, we have all the capabilities for the purification of the molecules of interest once the primary separation has been carried out.
- Rotary Vacuum Filters
- Liquid-Liquid & Solid-Liquid Separations
- Niagara, Press, Basket, Nutsche, Fundabac filters
- Drying: fluid bed dryers & conical dryers
- Centrifugation
- Evaporators
- Micro, Nano and Ultrafiltration
- Podbielniak Extractors
This can be combined with chemical synthesis in the same site. Cipan’s unwavering commitment to excellence in fermentation and chemical synthesis makes us your trusted partner for turning innovative ideas into reality.
Contact us today to explore how we can drive success in your pharmaceutical or biotechnological endeavors.
Quality and regulatory
Since the 1960s, Cipan has been committed to enhancing lives globally. To achieve this, we have, from the very beginning, manufactured our products in compliance with all national and international legislation and guidelines, exporting most of our production worldwide.
At Cipan, our Quality Unit is fully committed to our customers, supporting them in product development and meticulously overseeing every stage of the process, from the selection of raw materials and analytical and manufacturing development to stability tests and the subsequent release of finished products.
All standards are regularly verified by our customers, the National Health Authorities - Infarmed, and the FDA.
Certifications
At Cipan, we regard environmental certification according to the ISO 14001:2015 standard as a critical factor for sustainability and competitiveness. This is why we have committed to systematizing our approach to environmental management, leading to our certification since 2020.
Through our Safety, Health, and Environment Policy, we affirm our commitment to the environment, supported by applicable legislation, regulations specific to our activity, and best management practices. This also takes into account the requirements of our stakeholders, particularly our clients. Our policy, which emphasizes pollution prevention and the overall improvement of environmental performance alongside efficient resource management, guides our investments and actions.
These certifications serve as tangible proof of our dedication to producing high quality pharmaceutical products while simultaneously mitigating our environmental footprint and upholding the most stringent ethical standards. We firmly believe in supporting responsible pharmaceutical manufacturing, which we consider to be at the core of enhancing the quality of life.
ESG
We strive to operate in a way that ensures the health and safety of our employees, protects the environment and the surrounding communities. These are our most important sustainability focus areas.
To achieve these goals, we commit to improve continuously our performance, by complying with:
- The legislation applicable to our activity;
- The limitation of the environmental impact of our actions, the prevention of pollution, through adequate management of our residues and wastes, the efficient use of energy and hydric resources and the progressive adoption of environment-friendly materials;
- Qualifying our workers and allowing for their continuous training;
- EHS Policy
- Scope of the Environmental Management System: Production of Active Pharmaceutical Angredients (APAs) and intermediate products through fermentation, isolation, conversation, purification and chemical synthesis processes and its commercialization.
- External communication.
Sustainability
We strive to operate in a way that ensures the health and safety of our employees, as well as the protection of the environment and the surrounding communities. These are our main areas of fous on sustainability.
To achieve these goals, we are committed to our continuous improvement by:
- Complying with applicable legislation;
- Limiting our environmental impact, preventing pollution, through adequate management of our residues and waste, the efficient use of energy and water and the progressive adoption of environment-friendly materials;
- Qualifying our workers through continuing education;
- EHS Policy
- Scope of the Environmental Management System: Production of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) and intermediate products through fermentation, isolation, conversion, purification and chemical synthesis processes and its commercialization.
- External communications.
Careers
The well-being of people is at the heart of our corporate philosophy.
We take care of our people, their safety and their needs, because we want everyone to be able to work in an environment where they feel valued and where they can express their talent.
What we offer is something hard to find elsewhere: a peaceful workplace, in a people-friendly company based on innovation and people’s potential.
All this drive Cipan’s excellence in human resources management, where improvement is continuous, change commonplace, and salaries competitive.
