Fidia's best-selling drug Cronassial was linked to paralysis — the company collapsed

Fidia Farmaceutici was founded in 1946 in Bologna and moved to Abano Terme in 1959. In 1975, manager Francesco Della Valle obtained registration of Cronassial — a drug derived from bovine brain — from Ministry of Health official Duilio Poggiolini, in a corrupt arrangement that also involved Nobel laureate Rita Levi Montalcini. Cronassial became the best-selling drug in Italy, accounting for 82% of Fidia's revenue. The company grew to 420 billion lire in turnover and became the fourth-largest pharmaceutical group in Italy.

In 1989, German authorities linked Cronassial to Guillain-Barré syndrome, a disease that paralyses the limbs and kills one in ten patients. Germany banned the drug. The UK, Spain, and other markets followed. Cronassial was never approved in the United States. Italy eventually banned it too. Sales collapsed by 95%, and the company could not survive the loss of its only significant product.

In 1994, the Court of Padua declared Fidia bankrupt and placed it under extraordinary administration. Majority shareholder Ennio Arengi was later convicted for false accounting. In 1999, the company was acquired by P&R Holding and rebuilt as a hyaluronic acid specialist. By 2025, the revived Fidia reported €538 million in revenue and 1,700 employees — but it is a fundamentally different company from the original.