| Type | Publicly traded Aktieselskab |
|---|---|
| Traded as | OMX: LUN |
| Industry | Pharmaceuticals |
| Founded | 1915 |
| Headquarters | Copenhagen, Denmark |
| Key people | Mats Pettersson (Chairman), Ulf Wiinberg (President and CEO) |
| Revenue | DKK 14.77 billion (2010)[1] |
| Operating income | DKK 3.357 billion (2010)[1] |
| Profit | DKK 2.466 billion (2010)[1] |
| Total assets | DKK 18.01 billion (end 2010)[1] |
| Total equity | DKK 11.12 billion (end 2010)[1] |
| Employees | 5,689 (average, 2010)[1] |
| Website | lundbeck.com |
H. Lundbeck A/S (commonly known simply as Lundbeck) is a Danish international pharmaceutical company engaged in the research and development, production, marketing, and sale of drugs for the treatment of disorders in the central nervous system (CNS), including depression, schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Huntington's disease, epilepsy and insomnia.[2]
Headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark Lundbeck has international production facilities in Denmark, Mexico, Italy and France and affiliates or sales offices in 57 countries. Lundbeck employs around 5.900 people globally (as of 2010), and the company’s products are registered in more than 100 countries world wide.[3]
In 2010, the company's revenue was DKK 14.765 billion (€1.97 billion).
Lundbeck is listed on the Copenhagen Stock Exchange (CSE).
Lundbeck is a full member of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) and of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA)
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The company was founded by Hans Lundbeck in 1915, and was initially a trading company supplying a variety of goods to the Danish market, including machinery for manufacturing, aluminium foil, artificial sweeteners, and photographic equipment.
Lundbeck entered the pharmaceutical market in 1924, importing medicines and cosmetics from companies based in other European and American countries. By the late 1930s, Lundbeck had begun to produce its own medicinal products and had established its own research department. Production continued during the Second World War, although it was limited due to a lack of raw materials.
After the war, Lundbeck continued to grow and in 1957 the company introduced Truxal for the treatment of schizophrenia, entering the market for brain disorders. From the late 1970s and up through the 1980s, Lundbeck diverted its old agency business and thus became a dedicated pharmaceutical company focusing on the production of drugs used to treat disorders and diseases of the central nervous system. In 1989, Lundbeck launched the anti-depressant Cipramil, which became the cornerstone for the company’s international expansion and in 2009 Lundbeck, bought Ovation and established a commercial platform in the USA.[4]
Key products are the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor(SSRI) escitalopram, and memantine.
Lundbeck manufactures drugs as escitalopram (Cipralex/Lexapro) against (depression), memantine (Ebixa) against Alzheimer’s disease, rasagiline (Azilect) against Parkinson’s disease, tetrabenazine (Xenazine) against chorea associated with Huntington's disease, sertindole (Serdolect) against schizophrenia and vigabatrin (Sabril) against epilepsy.
Lundbeck also produces Nembutal Sodium Solution (pentobarbital sodium injection, USP), and holds the only license to manufacture pentobarbital in the United States.[5] The drug has been chosen as a substitute for Sodium thiopental in the three drug cocktail used for execution by lethal injection in that nation. In 2011, several human rights organizations such as Reprieve[6], Amnesty International, Council of Europe Goodwill Ambassador Bianca Jagger[7] as well as abolitionists from around the world have criticized Lundbeck for not adding an ‘end user’ agreement to prevent importers from selling Nembutal® to American prisons for use in executions. The company refused to investigate the drug's safety as an ingredient in lethal injections.[6] Lundbeck has written to U.S. state prison authorities requesting that pentobarbital not be used in lethal injections.[8] On May 13, 2011, Danish pension fund Unipension sold its 300,000-share stake (ca. DKK 40 million) in Lundbeck arguing that the company has not given an acceptable explanation on its rejection to meet demands made by human rights groups and activist to add an end-user agreement to restrict the distribution of its Nembutal drug in the United States.[9]
On July 1, 2011, Lundbeck announced that it would not sell Nembutal to prisons in U.S. states that carry out executions. By introducing a new distribution system, Nembutal will be supplied exclusively through a specialty pharmacy drop ship program that will deny distribution of the product to prisons in U.S. states currently active in carrying out the death penalty by lethal injection. [10]
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