Grünenthal
| Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung | |
| Industry | Pharmaceutical industry |
| Founded | 1946 |
| Founder | Hermann Wirtz, Sr. |
| Headquarters | Aachen, Germany |
|
Area served
|
Worldwide |
|
Key people
|
Gabriel Baertschi (CEO) Alberto Grua Sascha Becker (CFO) Klaus D. Langner |
| Products | Pharmaceutics |
| Revenue |
 € 1.154 million (2014)
|
|
Number of employees
|
ca. 5400 (2014) |
| Website | www |
Grünenthal is a pharmaceutical company headquartered in Stolberg, near Aachen in Germany. The company was founded in 1946 as Chemie Grünenthal, and has been continuously family owned. The company was the first to introduce penicillin into the German market in the post-war period, after the Allied Control Council lifted its ban. In the 1960s, Grünenthal became infamous for the development and sale of the teratogenic drug Thalidomide. It was marketed as the sleeping pill Contergan, and promoted as a morning sickness preventative. However it caused severe deformities in the children born to mothers who took it.
Today the firm generates more than 50% of its income with pain medications, such as the drug Tramadol which it developed.
It has two offices in Germany. In addition Grünenthal has subsidiaries in Europe, Latin America, the USA and China.
In November 2016 the company acquired Thar Pharmaceuticals.
Chemie Grünenthal was founded 1946 by Hermann Wirtz, Sr. as Chemie Grünenthal GmbH in Stolberg (Rhineland), later it was renamed in Grünenthal GmbH and its headquarters were moved to Aachen.
The occupying powers had prohibited the research and manufacture of penicillin by German companies. When the ban was lifted Grünenthal was the first company that introduced penicillin in the post-war period into the German market. This investment achieved a big financial boost for the company.
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Wikipedia