Flamma was started in 1950 by Dr. Marco Maria Negrisoli and his wife, Dr. Edmea Kullmann, a chemist. Together they infused their passion for chemistry into FLAMMA but they also brought forward their extremely strong principles of ethics and great humanity. Many years have passed since our humble beginnings. The world and our society have changed dramatically, yet these principles remain unaltered and are still the cornerstone of FLAMMA’s activity and development.

The name “Flamma” comes from “Fabbrica Lombarda Ammino Acidi” which means that a Factory in the Lombarda region of Italy making Amino Acids.

Marco Negrisoli decided to solve a problem in 1950. There was not one company serving the Italian industry (as well as Western Europe) with amino acids. The business quickly grew and soon customers were asking Flamma if they could make specialty amino acids. Flamma began making custom amino acids. Shortly thereafter, Flamma expanded and quickly  outgrew their location in Bergamo necessitating a search for a larger facility.

Gian Paolo Negrisoli, son of Marco, was now leading the company and decided to move to an industrial park just outside of Bergamo. Chignolo d’Isola was where Flamma has been since 1996. The company continued to grow with the addition of an API production plant and pilot plant. As one of the more modern pharmaceutical facilities in Italy, Flamma continued to move toward FDA inspection. In 2009, the Chignolo facility was favorably inspected by the US FDA.

Gian Paolo did not stop there as he saw the value of China and had already begun plans to work in China. Initially, Flamma established a joint partnership called Gongan Flamma Biochemicals but soon learned that they needed to have full control of their own business to be successful. Thus, Flamma’s Chinese Operations began first in Shanghai in 2005 and eventually moved to Dalian where Flamma has been active since 2008.

Meanwhile, Flamma opened sales offices in 2006 in Paris and 2010 in Boston to support the growth of the company. Flamma also expanded with the acquisition of Flamma Isso allowing Flamma to grow within Italy and double its capacity to 250 m³.

Flamma grew from 2 sites, 120 m³ of capacity and 125 team members to 4 sites, 450 m³ and over 550 team members with the addition of cGMP facilities at Flamma Honkai in 2017. Flamma continued to show the industry that Flamma is listens to its customer base. This ability to listen led to Flamma acquiring a facility in the USA (in the Philadelphia area) in late 2019.

Flamma continues to constantly dialogue with its customers to provide them with what they desire in a CDMO. Providing an integrated, stable supply chain is just part of what Flamma does.

In 2022, Flamma made the decision to be pro-active and acquire the Bulciago, Italy site that brought another 650 m³ of capacity (with reactors up to 25,000 L and an average reactor volume of 12,000 L). This acquisition allows Flamma to have an internal backup for China and provide the opportunity to onshore APIs in Italy. We are your Plan B.

As of 2026, Flamma has 1,300 m³ of capacity and over 1,100 employees.

100% Family owned and run since 1950. Flamma is here for you and your manufacturing needs. Flamma provides a fully integrated supply chain which is only possible since Flamma is using Italy, China & the USA together. Flamma Honkai provides the security of working in China due to our consistently present Italian management & oversight. It is like having an Italian facility in China. Having the ability to take on smaller volume projects at Flamma USA allows customers to grow the project by eventually taking advantage of Flamma’s other resources in Italy and China.

Flamma is the Thinking CDMO

Small Molecules. Big Acceleration.