Rhône-Poulenc
| Rhône Poulenc SA
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| legal form | SA |
| founding | 1928 |
| resolution | 1999 |
| Seat |
Lyon France
|
| Number of employees | 75,000 (1996) |
| sales | 86 billion francs (1996) |
| Branch | Chemical and pharmaceutical industry |
Rhône Poulenc SA was a French pharmaceutical and chemical company that is now part of Sanofi-Aventis .
It was founded as Société chimique du Rhône in 1895. The company invented cellulose acetate in 1911 . In 1922, the subsidiary Rhodiaceta , located in the textile sector, was added. In 1948, Rhodia Inc. made the leap overseas. Anti-histamines were an important research area at that time . In 1950, Rhône-Poulenc synthesized the first neuroleptic chlorpromazine and launched it in 1953. In 1968 the group took over the then important chemical companies Péchiney (aluminum) and Progil (chlorine, phosphate, plastics and petrochemicals). This has long been considered the most important merger in the French chemical industry. Various companies in the fine and heavy chemicals industries were thus united in one group.
The Rhône-Poulenc group also included the German phytopharmaceutical company A. Nattermann & Cie. GmbH based in Cologne.
From 1982 to 1993, the company was owned by the French state , which carried out extensive modernization measures in the then poorly running operation. In 1993, France separated from its property rights, as these prevented private investment. In 1996 the group employed 75,000 people in 140 countries on all continents. The turnover was 86 billion francs, of which almost 80% came from outside the French borders. Of importance here is Merial , a cooperation with MSD (Merck, Sharp & Dohme, a US company) .
In 1998 Rhône-Poulenc was the seventh largest pharmaceutical and chemical company in the world. In the same year, the French company group Rhodia SA was created through the merger of the chemical, fiber and polymer divisions. The remaining areas, including the pharmaceuticals division of Rhône-Poulenc, merged with the German group Hoechst AG at the end of 1999 to form Aventis , based in Strasbourg , which after Another merger is now called Sanofi-Aventis .
literature
- Chauveau, Sophie: L'invention pharmaceutique: la pharmacie française entre l'Etat et la société au XXe siècle , Le Plessis-Robinson: Sanofi-Synthélabo, 1999.
Web links
- Franco-German materials for history and geography lessons: The history of the chemical and pharmaceutical company Rhône-Poulenc
Individual evidence
- ^ Bangen, Hans: History of the drug therapy of schizophrenia. Berlin 1992, ISBN 3-927408-82-4 , page 78