Ferring Pharmaceuticals

The story begins in 1950 in Malmö, Sweden, where Dr. Frederik Paulsen and Dr. Eva Paulsen founded a company with a breakthrough idea: creating medicines using the body's own peptide hormones. Initially named Nordiska Hormon Laboratoriet, it was renamed Ferring in 1954, a nod to the founders' roots on the island of Föhr. The company remained privately held, a structure that allowed it to focus on a long-term research vision. A major milestone arrived in 1961 when Ferring achieved the synthetic production of the hormones oxytocin and vasopressin, establishing itself as a pioneer in the field. This scientific achievement formed the bedrock of the company's focus on specialty areas like reproductive health, gastroenterology, and urology. In 1988, the founder's son, Frederik Paulsen Jr., took the helm as Chairman, steering the company through a period of significant global expansion. Throughout the 1990s, Ferring opened subsidiaries across Europe, South America, and beyond, driving double-digit revenue growth. This expansion was purely organic, funded by its own success rather than external investment or an IPO. The company has since grown through strategic acquisitions, such as the 2011 purchase of Cytokine PharmaSciences Inc. to bolster its work in obstetrics. Today, Ferring Pharmaceuticals is headquartered in Saint-Prex, Switzerland, and operates in over 100 countries with more than 7,000 employees. It remains a private company, ultimately owned by the Dr. Frederik Paulsen Foundation, preserving the family's long-term vision. The company continues to invest heavily in research, recently launching a novel gene-based therapy for bladder cancer, Adstiladrin, and opening new manufacturing hubs to support its global supply chain.