Ferring Pharmaceuticals


Ferring Pharmaceuticals is a private multinational biopharmaceutical company specialising in areas such as reproductive health, maternal health, gastroenterology and urology. Ferring has been developing treatments for mothers and babies for over 50 years.
Headquartered in Saint-Prex, Switzerland, Ferring has its own manufacturing facilities in several European countries, in South America, China, India, and the United States.
Founded in 1950, privately-owned Ferring employs more than 6,500 people worldwide, has its own operating subsidiaries in nearly 60 countries and markets its products in 110 countries.

History

The company was founded by Dr. Frederik Paulsen Sr and Dr Eva Paulsen in Malmö, Sweden, in 1950, initially as the Nordiska Hormon Laboratoriet, renamed Ferring in 1954. A ferring in Frisian is a person from the island Föhr off the western coast of Germany. Mr. Paulsen's family originates from that island.
The first major breakthrough was the synthetic production of oxytocin and vasopressin in 1961. With further growth and expansion, the headquarters moved to Copenhagen, Denmark, and subsequently to Switzerland.
In October 2011, Ferring acquired Cytokine PharmaSciences Inc. and its UK subsidiary Controlled Therapeutics Ltd., a global biopharmaceutical company with a particular focus in obstetrics.
In August 2016, the company announced it would acquire the phase III sciatica candidate drug - Condoliase from Seikagaku for approximately $95 million.
In April 2018, Ferring announced its acquisition of Rebiotix Inc. an innovative biotechnology company and pioneer in the field of the human microbiome.
In November 2019, Ferring Pharmaceuticals and Blackstone Life Sciences announced the joint investment of over $570 million USD in an investigational novel gene therapy in late stage development for patients with high-grade, Bacillus Calmette-Guérin unresponsive, non-muscle invasive bladder cancer. Ferring and Blackstone spun out a new gene therapy company called Fergene to bring the therapy to patients.

Location

Ferring Pharmaceuticals' global headquarters are located in Saint-Prex, Switzerland. The company has over 6,500 employees with manufacturing facilities in Europe, South America, China and has built two new facilities in the US and in India.
In Copenhagen, Ferring has a R&D centre in the Ferring Tower in Ørestad. The company has commissioned Foster and Partners to design a new building in the Scanport development. It will have area of 30,000 square metres and have room for 750 employees.
Dutch subsidiary Ferring B.V. expanded to the US in 1980.
Ferring established a research group at the Ferring Research Institute in San Diego, CA in 1996. Ferring assembled a peptide research group that collaborates with academic scientists. The Ferring Research Institute moved to its new home in San Diego in February 2009 with the opening of a 38,000-square-foot facility in Sorrento Valley. The new facility houses expanded research laboratories for peptide medicinal chemistry, biochemistry, bioanalytical, and pharmacology.

Corporate governance

Ferring's Chairman of the Board of Directors is Frederik Paulsen Jr, son of founder Frederik Paulsen Sr. Mr Paulsen studied Chemistry in Germany at the Christian-Albrechts-University, Kiel followed by Business Administration at the University of Lund, in Sweden. He joined Ferring in 1976, became Managing Director of Ferring AB, Sweden in 1983 and Chief Executive Officer of the Ferring Group in 1988.
The President and Chief Science Officer is Dr Per Falk who joined Ferring in 2015 and was appointed President on 1 January 2019. He also holds the role of Chief Science Officer and oversees Ferring’s research, development and regulatory activities. Before joining Ferring Per had held executive and senior leadership positions at Novo Nordisk and AstraZeneca in research, medical and clinical development roles. Per has over 30 years’ experience investigating and evolving microbiome science, holding faculty positions at some of the world’s leading institutions to advance research in this field. During his career, he has held the role of Associate Professor at the Karolinska Institute, Sweden and the Washington University School of Medicine, United States. Per is a qualified medical doctor and also has a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Clinical Chemistry.
The role of Chief Medical Officer is held by Professor Klaus Dugi who joined Ferring in October 2017. He is responsible for Global Medical Affairs, Quality Assurance and Pharmacovigilance. Klaus’ former career includes various leadership roles at Boehringer Ingelheim, including Vice President Global Medical Affairs, Chief Medical Officer, and Managing Director UK & Ireland. Klaus is a Professor of Medicine with a speciality in internal medicine. He continues to teach medicine at Heidelberg University in Germany. His background also includes four years spent carrying out research at the US National Institutes of Health and he has published more than 70 manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals including The Lancet and Diabetes.

Products

Products are used in reproductive health, gastroenterology, urology, orthopaedics and endocrinology.
Reproductive health / Fertility
Gastroenterology
Urology
Orthopaedics
Endocrinology