Solvay Pharmaceuticals, Solvay Pharma Kft.

Ernest Solvay was born in 1838. He developed a new process for the industrial production of sodium carbonate and founded the company Solvay & Cie in 1863. From 1870 to 1880, Solvay promoted the global expansion of the company.
Given Solvay's interest and experience in organic chemistry, it was natural that in the 1950s, the Group should take part in the development of life sciences. These activities were placed in a separate Health sector in 1980.
Solvay gained a firm foothold in the new sector by acquiring pharmaceutical companies: first Kali-Chemie (now Solvay Pharmaceuticals GmbH, Germany), followed in turn by Latema and Sarbach (later merged with Solvay Pharma, France) and Duphar (presently Solvay Pharmaceuticals B.V., The Netherlands) and Reid-Rowell (presently Solvay Pharmaceuticals Inc., USA). Recent co-operation agreements have opened up worldwide markets for its Pharmaceutical activities.

In July 2005, the Group finalised the acquisition of Fournier Pharma. It marked an important step in acceleration of the growth of the pharmaceuticals activities.

With this acquisition, Solvay Pharmaceuticals has decided to allocate its resources with priority to research and development to a limited number of selected therapeutic areas : cardiometabolic, neuroscience, influenza vaccines and pancreatic enzymes; in gastroenterology and women’s and men’s health, the priority will now focus on the market presence, especially for existing and well-established drugs.