Pharmaceutical company Norgine in Ústí nad Labem (Aussig)

Overview

Norgine was founded in 1909 and began operations in Ústí nad Labem. Its founder was Doctor of Chemistry Victor Stein. The company originally produced sodium alginate and chemical preparations from imported seaweed (which gave it its name).

Her first drugs included the laxative Normacol and the canker sore tincture Pyralvex (both still in production today). After the First World War, the company focused on the group of medicines. The principal part of its portfolio was insulins.

The company also collaborated with prominent German pharmacologists from the German University in Prague, first with Professor Wilhelm Wiechowski (1873-1928) and Professor Emil Starkenstein (1884-1942). These were, for example, the spasmolytic Apasmon or the anti-anemic Ferrostabil.

1934 Victor Stein died. His son Walter took over the company‘s management. During the Munich crisis, the company‘s share of its owners (Petschek banking house) transferred to London.

After October 1938, German concern Schering AG „appropriated“ the Norgine factory. After the end of the war in 1946, the company was nationalized and incorporated into the state enterprise United Pharmaceutical Works (the well-known abbreviation SPOFA was more commonly used). It was later renamed Chemopharm. In the period of socialism, it produced plasters (Spofaplast), pharmaceutical substances and medicines. After 1989, it was privatized and continued to make plasters and other purely chemical products.

Abroad after 1945, Norgine continued to operate as a pharmaceutical company with production. It successfully exists in this form to this day.

Keywords:

Norgine – Stein – Starkenstein – a pharmaceutical company