All their hard work paid off, and in 1907 the rapidly growing company
moved its production into a newly built factory in Budapest's Kőbánya
district. The first drugs produced there included a disinfectant and
fever and pain relievers, the most famous of which was Kalmopyrin
(acetylsalicylic acid), which is still used today.
In 1923
the firm was restructured as a limited company and named the Gedeon
Richter Chemical Works. Its success was due not to luck, but to
expertise and the pursuit of the high level of innovation that
manifested in development. In addition to being among the first firms to
market insulin in Europe, theresearchers’ success is indicated by the
fact that the Company had nearly 100 pharmaceutical specialties before
the outbreak of the First World War. Between the 2world wars the Company
had 10 subsidiaries, 40 representative offices operating abroad and
agents on all 5 continents. By the time the Second World War broke out,
Richter was one of the largest exporters in Hungary.
The
war, however, interfered with the development of the Company, which
until then had only experienced uninterrupted growth. After the war it
lost its export markets and subsidiaries in Western Europe. It turned
eastward and from the early 1950s vigorously researched original drugs.
The Company began to conduct polypeptide research and to develop
manufacturing processes for various steroid derivatives. In 1948 the
Company was nationalised, and its name was changed to the Kőbánya
Pharmaceutical Company. Its greatest success came from using its own
process to manufacture vitamin B12. It was this preparation that made
the Company an important player in the global market. It was the Soviet
Union’s leading supplier in the 1960s, and the 1970s saw a steady
increase in its exports to the West.
The Company vigorously
expanded its range of activities and capitalised on its decades of
experience in pharmaceutical manufacturing by developing the Richtofit
line of herbal products as well as a line of cosmetics marketed under
the brand name Fabulon. Cavinton, an original product that improves
circulation within the brain, appeared on the market in 1977 and was a
worldwide success. It has been one of the Company’s (renamed Gedeon
Richter at the end of the 1980s) best known products ever since.
The winds of political, social and economic change that
swept over the region in the 1990s failed to spare Richter, which became
loss-making at that time. As a consequence, the Company again
concentrated primarily on pharmaceutical preparations for human use. It
gradually phased out the manufacture of pesticides, veterinary drugs and
cosmetics, and at the same time proceeded to update its human
pharmaceuticals portfolio.
In 1992 new management, under the
leadership of Erik Bogsch, took the helm at the Company, and a new
strategy put it back on its feet. Thanks to unparalleled expertise,
outstanding employees and managers, the Company was able to weather the
historical storms of the 20th century, despite great losses.
Richter has not only held onto its position in Hungary, but
it has developed into the predominant pharmaceutical company in Central
Eastern Europe. At the same time it has greatly increased its importance
in the markets of the CIS countries, the European Union, Japan, China
and the United States.
The Company is present in more than
38 countries with 5 manufacturing facilities, 29 representative offices,
and 38 sales subsidiaries and wholesale companies. The Company’s main
goal is to develop its product portfolio to be able to continuously
offer innovative and outstanding products at affordable prices.