Once upon a time there was Vister

15 years after the signing of the program agreement on the redevelopment of the historic center of Casatenovo, not only is the project at a standstill, but the situation continues to worsen. While the Vismara plants were transferred practically immediately to the new hub of Cascina Sant'Anna, without, among other things, even ensuring the promised new jobs, the "black hole" of the old abandoned Spa facilities remains in the heart of the city sausages and the former Vister pharmaceutical company. They should have made way for houses, shops, offices, streets, parking lots and public spaces. Instead they will probably continue to remain useless, dangerous and dilapidated ruins that scar Casate for a long time to come. (Source The Day of June 1, 2022)

Founded in 1944, under the guidance of the patron Egidio Vismara - who passed away in October 2015 at the age of 92 - the Casatese company had managed in just a few years to earn a respectable place in the national and international pharmaceutical scene. It employed about 600 workers. The story of a company that is linked iindissolubly also to that of Casatenovo, at least until the eighties, when Vister was taken over and transferred by some American entrepreneurs (Warner-Lambert). Vister was the pharmaceutical division of the Francesco Vismara salami factory founded in 1940. It is the acronym of  Vismara –Therapeutic.

In Vister there was a very active drug information office; a periodical publication entitled "select",  sent to all Italian doctors, pharmacists and veterinarians, with all the news. The office was also equipped with a well-stocked library made available to university students for the preparation of degree theses. In this way they acquired the knowledge of medicines Vister. 

In June 1967, Vister was sold to the American multinational Warner Lambert which has acquired the patents and specialties. Some production units were progressively moved from Casatenovo, followed by the departments, towards the poles of Milan and Lainate.

The conclusion of the transfer and the complete abandonment of the Casatese pole dates back to 1983, following the sale of the company - which took place at the end of the Sixties - from the Vismara family to the American Warner Lambert, which was later taken over by Parke Davis, controlled by the same Lambert. In 1976, Parke-Davis was acquired by Warner-Lambert, which in turn was acquired by Pfizer in 2000.

Precisely in this climate of change, Dr. Egidio Vismara decided to resign as president, not sharing the choices of the new ownership.

In 1984 it moved from Casatenovo to Lainate. Now the Vister no longer exists. A Casatenovo remains a ruin in Viale Don Rossi.

A group of ex-employees has published a compendium book that tells all the activities of the pharmaceutical company "Vister, yesterday, today ... always"

Two of his drugs, "Folina" and "Eparina Vister" had ended up at Marvecspharma, a notorious "collector" of company branches protagonist of a big scam against many ISFs.

Established at the end of the 90s with about 30 employees which, between 2004 and 2007, Marvecs had "purchased" about 1200 Pharmaceutical Representatives, through "sales of business units" organized by various drug multinationals and in particular by Pfizer Italia srl, from Astrazeneca SpA And Simesa SpA

From 2007 onwards, these small companies (X-Pharma, Marvecs and Innovex) became containers of whistleblowers, only to then go into crisis, go bankrupt or get rid of the hired workers themselves. The companies that have bought informants have in fact proved to be the antechamber of dismissal for a good part of those who have joined them. For this reason, the informants spoke of a "dirty game". They had unloaded the weight and "shame" of the layoffs on Marvecspharma Service srl (and the others), in order to remain "pure and immaculate” for the market, shareholders and rating agencies. Marvecspharma Service went into bankruptcy in January 2011, with the end result of around 1,000 people being unemployed. Bankruptcy declared fraudulent by the Milan courts and for which those responsible were convicted. But that's another story.

Related news: Municipality of Casatenovo. Program Agreement for the relocation of the Vismare plants of 2010