// AMINO Acids – The building blocks of life produced by us

On June 9, 2024, the construction of a water experience area on Mühlenweg in Räbke.

Räbke's mayor Rainer Angerstein invited people to the Liesebach water mill and welcomed the main actors and ideas behind the measure. District Administrator Gerhard Radeck once again praised the community spirit in the village, which association head Werner Denneberg wholeheartedly agreed with.

A special „Thank you” went to AMINO GmbH Frellstedt, represented by its managing director, Dr. Lutz Thomas. AMINO had donated the property on the Schunter to the community for its renaturation.

Amino GmbH, a manufacturer of high-quality pharmaceutical-grade amino acids and related substances for pharmaceutical, biopharma, and nutritional applications, has appointed Barentz, a leading global distributor of life science ingredients, as its strategic partner for distributing its amino acid portfolio in North and Central America starting in May 2024.

This collaboration gives Barentz’s customers access to a wide range of high-quality amino acids and signifies a mutual commitment to expanding market reach and enhancing customer satisfaction.

Divya Tewari, President of the pharmaceutical division of North and Central America at Barentz, said: “We are excited with this opportunity to give our growing customer base in North and Central America access to the highest-quality and purity amino acid portfolio.” Kai-Philipp Thomas, Vice President of Sales & Marketing of Amino, emphasizes: “With the collaboration with Barentz we are expanding geographical reach to the American markets, a next step in our internationalization strategy to become a global supplier.”

“Our strategic intention is to supply our products and services worldwide”, states Kai-Philipp Thomas, head of marketing & sales, “the agreement with Skypam to cover the Bangladesh market is a natural addition to expand our global range”. Skypam’s president Palash Kumar Chowdhury wishes to build on his experience in the market and is enthusiastic to support AMINO entering the market in Bangladesh. “We will forge new alliances to supplement our marketing & distribution network for our pharmaceutical-grade amino acids and related products in order to optimize our global coverage as part of the internationalization of AMINO”, Kai-Philipp Thomas emphasizes.

The Indian authority CDSCO (Central Drug Standard Control Organisation) has upon thorough examination approved of the registration of 9 different amino acids and API’s.

The registration enables AMINO to sell the following products for pharmaceutical applications in India: L-aspartic acid, L-asparagine monohydrate, L-isoleucine, L-leucine, L-malic acid, L-methionine, L-phenylalanine, L-tryptophan and L-valine.

Dr. Lutz Thomas, CEO of AMINO, emphasizes the relevance of the Indian registration as "an important step within our expansion strategy." Kai-Philipp Thomas, head of sales, continues: "As part of the internationalization of our business, further registrations with the Indian CDSCO are planned like L-alanine, glycine, L-histidine, N-acetyl-L-tyrosine, L-serine, L-threonine and L-tyrosine.”

Amino GmbH, located in Frellstedt, has been successfully FSSC certified. Only two months after its subsidiary, Amino Manufacturing (South Africa) Pty. Ltd, Amino has received its FSSC 22000 certificate.

All of the production sites of the Amino group have demonstrated, during an audit conducted in accordance with international standards, that they have implemented a comprehensive food safety management system. The target of this system is to increase security for retailers and consumers and to create more transparency within the entire supply chain.

"Amino is ideally prepared for the expansion of its nutrition business with high-purity amino acids," explained Dr. Jörn Oetken, Head of Quality Management at AMINO GmbH.

Amino Manufacturing (South Africa) Pty. Ltd. (AmSA), a subsidiary of Amino GmbH in Frellstedt, has received its FSSC 22000 – Certificate after successfully completing the respective audit.

FSSC stands for Food Safety System Certification and is a system that is accepted globally. The obtained certificate demonstrates that AmSA has implemented comprehensive management systems for food safety.

Upon the completion of the certification AmSA that currently manufactures L-Tyrosine to be supplied to the nutrition market. “This diversification of the production risk is an important milestone of our strategic development and part of our business continuity plan”, explains Kai-Philipp Thomas, AMINO’s head of site development & technology, “L-tyrosine is the beginning, other amino acids will follow”.

The German Donors' Association once again honors the research and development activities of AMINO GmbH with the seal of approval "Innovative through Research". The association has already been collecting data from research-based companies in Germany since 2014 in order to determine their innovative strength and develop corresponding funding concepts.

"Complementing the further development of our amino acids business, we have been investing in research & development for the next generation of products and services for several years," explains Dr. Lutz Thomas, Managing Director, Amino GmbH's corporate strategy. "With a young team of scientists, we are specifically looking for new products that, on the one hand, match our technological competencies and, on the other hand, complement our range of products in a meaningful and sustainable way. The AminoVation platform offers customers to develop new products from process development in the laboratory to upscaling to pilot plant scale and accompanied by analytical and regulatory support, and to prepare them for transfer to production scale. "The goal of our innovation projects is to produce the new products on an industrial scale in AMINO's production facilities and thus enter into a partnership with our customers from development through to long-term supply agreements," emphasizes Kai-Philipp Thomas, Head of Site Development & Technology, who is delighted about the renewed award.

Frellstedt. The rating agency EcoVadis, an independent evaluation platform for the assessment of Corporate Social Responsibilty (CSR), has once again awarded AMINO's performance in the area of sustainability with "Silver". This puts AMINO among the top 25 percent of companies evaluated by EcoVadis.

EcoVadis has been rating Amino since 2015 on a voluntary and evidence-based basis with regard to the environment, labour and human rights, ethics and sustainable procurement. The rating is intended to contribute to greater transparency between international business partners and recognises special commitment to greater sustainability and social responsibility throughout the supply chain. EcoVadis focuses on the sustainability intelligence that influences every business decision.

"The renewed award strengthens us in our goal to take social responsibility as a globally operating company and encourages us to further improve our sustainability performance", explains managing director Dr. Lutz Thomas. 

Selected guests and employees celebrated the development of the amino acid manufacturer, the opening of plant 6 as well as the initiated gradual succession plan in its management.

“We will abide by our strategy and support our development by investing into the future. Therefore, we will provide more resources for the research and development of new nutrients and active pharmaceutical ingredients, expand our production capacity in our core business and establish new customer services and offers via the AMINOVATION platform ", states Managing Director Dr. Lutz Thomas.

For the future we plan to strengthen the internationalization of the sales & distribution of the AMINO products and to further develop AMINO into a modern European pharmaceutical company. Therefore, in a next step, among other things, the production capacities for raw materials and finished products at AMINO Manufacturing South Africa Pty. Ltd. will be expanded.

Dr. Lutz Thomas: “Thanks to our steady growth over the past 15 years, AMINO has become an innovative and modern company. We would like to see this development to continue in the future. "

AMINO continues its development of the site in Frellstedt, region Helmstedt, and commissions its new, modern quality center. As a manufacturer of amino acids and related active pharmaceutical ingredients and nutrients, quality assurance is a core competence and the foundation of the company's success.

The opening of the quality center with 700 m² in size encompassing state-of-the-art pharmaceutical quality control laboratories marks a further milestone in the development of the company, which is celebrating its 15^th anniversary this year.

After a construction period of 12 months and a total investment of some EUR 3.0 Mio, the new building provides generous space for further growth of the core business and allows the addition of new, innovative products to the portfolio. Dr. Jörn Oetken, project manager and head of quality management, is pleased about the timely completion of the project, amid the additional challenges posed by the Corona pandemic. "With the new quality center, we are meeting the highest quality standards for a European pharmaceutical active ingredient company and support our global growth strategy sustainably," explains Dr. Oetken.

“In addition to strengthening our innovation power, the expansion of our production capacity and the upgrade of our utilities, the quality center, which is located centrally on the site, highlights our commitment to the quality and sustainability objectives as well as the future development of our company”, adds Dr. Lutz Thomas, AMINO’s managing director.

The project was funded partially by the NBank.

AMINO wants to meet the high demands of their customers regarding sustainable products and technologies as well as the fulfillment of ecological and social standards. Therefor AMINO has subjected itself to a voluntary Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) assessment by the independent platform EcoVadis and was once again awarded with the silver medal.

The evaluation includes 21 CSR criterias from the areas of environment, social affairs, ethics and sustainable procurement. The rating is intended to contribute to more transparency between international business partners and recognizes the special commitment to greater sustainability and social responsibility in the entire supply chain.

"The award strengthens us in our goal to take social responsibility as a globally operating company and encourages us to further improve our sustainability performance," explains managing director Dr. Lutz Thomas. 

At the gala in Düsseldorf on September 26, 2020 the finalists of the annual contest "Großer Preis des Mittelstandes" for Lower Saxony / Bremen have been announced. AMINO was honored as one of 5 finalists.

“We appreciate the award as finalist 2020 in recognition of the development from a liquid sugar site to a modern production site for active pharmaceutical ingredients”, states Dr. Lutz Thomas, managing director of AMINO GmbH. “Our track record for growth we currently support by investing into a state-of-the-art production facility with an annual production capacity of 1,000 mt. We are convinced to have established a good foundation for the future of the company and the site in Frellstedt. Internationalization and innovation remain the pillars of our strategy”, Dr. Thomas adds.

As part of its sustainability program and specifically its energy policy, AMINO has committed to precisely monitor and reduce its electricity, natural gas and water consumption. The underlying energy management system was introduced in 2014 and has now successfully been recertified under DIN ISO 50001: 2018.

The innovation network pharmaceutical production technology - short “ProPharm” – was founded by six small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as well as six research partners from the Technical University of Brunswick and the Leibniz University of Hanover. The objective of the network is to enable fast and consistent transfer of research results into the pharmaceutical and active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) production. As an API manufacturer AMINO has joined the network. Together with the scientific research partners innovation projects can be initiated and progressed. “We have worked successfully with the Technical University of Brunswick on several research projects over the past few years. I am confident that the network will allow us to generate further synergy effects,” explains Dr. Lutz Thomas, managing director of AMINO GmbH. The network is funded by the Central Innovation Program for SMEs (ZIM) of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi).

The German association Stifterverband once again recognizes the research and development activities of AMINO GmbH by awarding the certificate "Innovative through research". From 2014 onwards the association has collected data from companies in Germany to determine their innovative strength and to develop corresponding funding concepts. “We have invested heavily in our research and development program in recent years.” explains Dr. Lutz Thomas, Managing Director of AMINO GmbH. “We have established a team of scientists under the brand AminoVation and have built a state of the art innovation center. The AminoVation team works in close corporation with our customers on solutions for specific problems, on the next generation of nutritional and active pharmaceutical ingredients as well as on optimized scalable production processes. We are excited about the renewed award by the Stifterverband and draw further motivation for the strategic development of the company and creating the future”, Dr. Thomas adds.

AMINO has successfully registered another drug master file with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the production of the amino acid threonine.

“Threonine is one of the growing products of our broad product spectrum. We have registered a US-DMF for this essential amino acid”, says Kai-Philipp Thomas, Head of Marketing and Sales at AMINO GmbH, and continues "We are currently adding more amino acids to our US-DMF portfolio". By registering with the FDA, AMINO can expand its sales and supply pharmaceutical customers in the USA with 10 different amino acids and other active pharmaceutical ingredients. These include aspartic acid, isoleucine, leucine (fermentation and corn), phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, tyrosine, N-acetyl-L-tyrosine, valine and betaine.

“The company is on an expansion course. By registering the products offered with the FDA and building the new plant, we will be able to meet the increasing demand from our customers for amino acids even better”, explains Dr. Lutz Thomas, managing director of AMINO GmbH.

The symbolic groundbreaking ceremony at AMINO GmbH took place with heavy equipment, initiating the start of the construction of the new plant. At its headquarters in Frellstedt, the company is investing around EUR 30 million in the new building, including the most modern production facilities and an independent, decentralized energy supply center. The aim of the expansion is to double its current production capacity.

Kai-Philipp Thomas, sales manager and designated successor to the managing director Dr. Lutz Thomas explains "With the commissioning of the new plant in autumn 2021, we will be able to meet the increasing demand of our international customers and be able to drive our expansion forward".

CEO Dr. Lutz Thomas adds "The new building marks another milestone in our young company history and underlines the trust in our products, our employees and our region".

The manufacturer of high-purity amino acids has continuously developed since 2006. In addition to the newly opened innovation center for research and development last September, construction of the new quality center began in January this year.

AMINO has been nominated for “Großer Preis des Mittelstands 2020”, a German award targeted at small and medium sized companies. AMINO has entered the jury list along with another 35  companies located in Lower Saxony and Bremen. The jury list represents the final step of the competition. The finalists, award winners and special award winners for 2020 will be selected from this list.

The award recognizes outstanding small and medium-sized companies in Germany and is awarded annually by the Oskar Patzelt Foundation in collaboration with the Chamber of Industry, Commerce and Crafts, employers’ associations as well as ministries, institutions and the media.

The winners will be announced in September 2020.

AMINO has successfully registered a drug master file with the American Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the production of L-aspartic acid.

“We are pleased to expand our US-DMF portfolio for regulated pharmaceutical applications.”, states Henrike Bertz, responsible for Regulatory Affairs at AMINO. “L-aspartic acid is one of the growing products of our broad product spectrum, hence we are pleased that this amino acid is now registered in the United States.”, adds Kai-Philipp Thomas, Marketing & Sales Director of AMINO GmbH. By registering with the FDA, AMINO is able to expand its sales further, particularly targeted at pharmaceutical companies in the U.S with the amino acid L-aspartic acid.

L-aspartic acid is a proteinogenic amino acid and is used in many pharmaceutical and nutritional products.

The company announced further that it plans to register additional amino acids with the FDA as part of its internationalization strategy. "With the construction of our new plant and the registration of our products, we intend to service the increasing demand from our existing and new customers," explains Dr. Lutz Thomas, managing director of AMINO GmbH.

Amino GmbH, which produces high-quality pharmaceutical-grade amino acids for pharmaceutical, medical and clinical dietetic nutrition applications, announces plans to double production capacity by building a new facility at its headquarters in Frellstedt, Germany. Amino is investing approximately $35 million to meet the growing demand of current customers and to increase supply and availability for the worldwide pharmaceutical and nutritional market. Construction will begin by March 31 and the new facility will begin operation in 2021.

“We are expanding because we believe in ourselves and we want to offer our services to a broader audience,” said Dr. Lutz Thomas, Managing Director.  “We will be an even stronger source for companies in the high-end pharmaceutical grade amino acid market.” 

Dr. Thomas said that by building the new facility, Amino will increase production by about 1200 metric tons across all product lines, the complete range of pharmaceutical grade amino acids. Serving Europe, Asia and the Americas, Amino specializes in amino acids for: infusions and injections; active pharmaceutical ingredients for oral applications; pharma-intermediates; pharmaceutical production in cell cultures, and medical nutrition and infant formula.

Amino has registered rapid and consistent annual growth for more than 10 years by adding value beyond the amino acid and helping customers solve their production problems.  To that end, Amino has invested heavily in R&D, creating its AminoVation platform to expand its line of products and services and respond even faster and more specifically to customers’ needs.

“We are developing the next generation of products for the next generation of employees and managers,” explained Dr. Thomas. “Building on our current portfolio we are developing amino acid derivatives and other APIs and nutrients.”

“Current growth is exhausting Amino’s production capacity.” said Dr. Thomas and added, “The Company now needs to think bigger and beyond its European base”.

“We plan to expand our marketing worldwide with a focus on the American markets,” said Kai-Philipp Thomas, Manager of Sales & Marketing.  “The new facility enables Amino to supply new customers, particularly pharmaceutical companies in the U.S., while also meeting increasing demand from our existing customer base.”