In 1935, a Polish chemical and pharmaceutical plant is founded in Starogard Gdański. A decade later, in the aftermath of the Second World War, it is nationalised - but the factory, and its people, endure. These are the roots of what is today 90 years of pharmaceutical heritage.

As part of the state-owned Polfa union, the Starogard plant builds the foundations of a modern manufacturer: its own research laboratory, growing production of substances and finished forms, and steadily modernised infrastructure. By 1980 it employs over 3,000 people and sells to 60 countries on every continent - an early proof of reach.

Polpharma reclaims its historic name and, in 2000, its independence - privatised entirely on Polish capital. This is the moment the entrepreneurial engine switches on: restructuring and serious investment begin, a new solid-forms facility is built, and the first foreign office opens in Lithuania. Polpharma stops being a state plant and starts choosing its own battles.

Free to invest, Polpharma modernises fast: a Good Laboratory Practice R&D centre, a Good Distribution Practice logistics centre, a new sterile ampoule facility and a training campus all go up within five years. In parallel, the company builds its brand - from the Etopiryna campaign to a coherent new visual identity - and puts its name behind Polish science through its Foundation and the Polscreen prevention programme.

Polpharma earns the credentials that open the world: ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 certification, and - in 2009 - a successful FDA inspection that clears its active ingredients for the demanding US market. New offices reach further into Central Asia and the Caucasus, and in 2010 the company makes its first acquisition, taking over Bioton's antibiotics portfolio and its Duchnice plant.

This is the decade Polpharma becomes a group. Santo in Kazakhstan, Polfa Warszawa, Sanfarm's Nowa Dęba division and a biotechnology joint venture with Germany's Neuraxpharm extend its footprint and its capabilities. The company opens biotech laboratories, builds a biologics plant in Duchnice, publishes its first GRI report, tops Poland's responsible-business ranking, and in 2019 spins off Polpharma Biologics as an independent entity.

When the pandemic hits, Polpharma responds: it co-creates the first Polish SARS-CoV-2 test, doubles ampoule capacity in Starogard, and opens a new facility in Sieradz. It formalises its sustainability commitments - the first company in Poland certified to ISO 20400 - invests in its people through the LEONARDO programme, and takes its first step into Western Europe with the acquisition of Farmaprojects.

Polpharma pulls its capabilities into one connected platform. High-potency API and RNA technologies move from ambition to infrastructure with the HP API centre and the RNA project, while new Business Units - 089Pharm in Germany, alongside Polfa Lublin, Ziołolek and the Ipochem merger - extend the group from Central Asia to Western Europe. Green energy and grassroots employee initiatives show a company growing on its own terms. European expertise, multi-regional reach - in practice.