Lundbeck

H. Lundbeck A/S

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 16.0 billion (2011)[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	6,000 (average, 2011)[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 6.000 people globally (as of 2011), and the company’s products are registered in more than 100 countries world wide.^[2]

In 2011, the company's revenue was DKK 16.007 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)

History

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 (chlorprothixene) for the treatment of schizophrenia, entering the market for brain disorders. In 1954, the Lundbeck Foundation was established to maintain and expand the activities of Lundbeck Group and also to provide funding for scientific research of the highest quality. 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 antidepressant Celexa (citalopram), which became the cornerstone for the company’s international expansion and in 2009 Lundbeck, bought Ovation and established a commercial platform in the USA.^[2]

Key products

Key products are the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor Lexapro (escitalopram), and antidementia agent Ebixa (memantine).

Lundbeck manufactures drugs as:

Products under development

• Brexpiprazole — an atypical antipsychotic with aripiprazole-like core structure (D₂ partial agonist).
• Intravenous formulation of carbamazepine.
• Desmoteplase — a thrombolytic (recombinant tissue plasminogen activator).
• Lu AE58054 — a 5-HT₆ antagonist for Alzheimer's disease and schizophrenia-related cognitive deficit.
• Tedatioxetine — a triple reuptake inhibitor.
• Zicronapine — an atypical antipsychotic.

Controversies

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 activists 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]

In December Lundbeck divested a portfolio of products including Nembutal to US pharmaceutical company Akorn Inc. As part of the agreement, Akorn committed to continue with Lundbeck's restricted distribution programme for Nembutal, which was implemented to restrict the use of the product in the US.

In March 2012 Lundbeck became the first recipient of a new award for ethical leadership in the pharmaceutical industry. The award was given by Reprieve in recognition of the steps taken by Lundbeck to prevent the misuse of its medicines in relation to capital punishment in the USA.

When presenting the award to Lundbeck, Reprieve spokesperson Maya Foa said: “Lundbeck’s action has changed the landscape of corporate social responsibility in the pharmaceutical industry. Many pharmaceutical companies lament the use of their medicines in executions – Lundbeck didn’t just lament it, they took active steps to prevent it. In short, they were true to the values of their profession, and this Award is testament to their efforts.” ^[11]

2013 fine

On June 19, 2013, the European Commission imposed a fine of €93.8 million on Lundbeck and fined several producers of generic pharmaceuticals a total of €52.2 million after Lundbeck made agreements in 2002 with the other companies to delay less expensive generics of Lundbeck's citalopram from entering the market. In return for the ability to maintain a monopoly on the drug's manufacture, Lundbeck offered payments and other kickbacks.^[12]

See also

• Tarenflurbil, which the company had arranged for EU distribution rights on prior to termination of its development by Myriad.
• Desmoteplase, a novel, highly fibrin-specific thrombolytic agent in phase III of clinical development.

References

External links

• Official website
• The Lundbeck Institute

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