By Andrew Cottone, CEO and Founder of Adesis
When Adesis was just an idea back in the early 2000s, I was a young chemist working in Delaware with a dream of building a premier chemistry solution company with the best chemists in the world. My vision was to partner with biotech and pharma to accelerate their research and manufacturing goals.
At that time, the state was booming and research labs were scarce. When my employer was on the verge of closing its doors, I saw that as an opportunity and decided to step in and buy the company. To this day, I believe being in Delaware had a lot to do with me taking that terrifying yet exciting leap.
The Path to Delaware
So, what was it about Delaware that enticed me to set up my business here?
- Access to so many thought leaders and industry giants.
- Powerful mentoring and intern possibilities.
- CEOs who truly believe in diversity and inclusion
With its long history in the chemical industry and site of the University of Delaware’s renowned chemical engineering program, Delaware also proved to be a great central location to find and attract some of the most talented chemists in the business. The success of Adesis is entirely dependent on our employees, so we’re especially proud that our chemists could get a job anywhere in the world, but choose to stay with Adesis. That not only says so much about the value of our company culture but also the benefits of living in Delaware.
From the beginning, I worked on strengthening client relationships and that resulted in Adesis eventually being purchased by our largest customer. In my opinion, this is Delaware’s real opportunity: to grow an economy rich in venture funding and collaboration opportunities. I’ve said that Delaware moves at the speed of the entrepreneur, and I mean that – you get in what you put out here. And you can’t find that anywhere else.
Building the Science Community
As Adesis has grown, we have doubled down on our commitment to The First State. Not only have we brought some of the brightest scientific minds to the Delaware region, but our own resources and expertise have escalated as well as we become more established as the formidable CRO we are today.
Whether it is by adding to our synthetic chemistry team, welcoming an accomplished director of manufacturing to our team or expanding our laboratories, Adesis works hard to enrich and grow the scientific community here in Delaware. We’re bolstering the talent pipeline as a founding member of Intern Delaware as well as cultivating STEM and educational programs that nurture the next generation of Delaware scientists. We, using our voice on the Boards of The Partnership, DPP Science and Tech Advisory Board, Delaware Bioscience Association, and Biopharmaceutical, Engineering and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Delaware.
The Delaware Partnership
As a community, Delaware’s leaders and business organizations have been an incredible resource. One recent example was attaining the important QMS milestone of ISO 9001 certification. With funding from DPP, Adesis was able to train 10 in-house auditors to ensure we were continuing to meet our own strict quality improvement guidelines. Achieving this certification under ISO’s globally recognized, accredited standards is invaluable in further supporting the trust and confidence our clients have in our proficiencies.
Adesis is a proud corporate citizen of The First State and looks forward to continuing to help make Delaware and the region an exciting place to start and grow businesses, to live and give back, for generations.
