Hoechst AG
Encyclopedia
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
chemicals then life-sciences company that became Aventis Deutschland
Aventis
Aventis was a pharmaceutical and lab assay testing company. It was formed in 1999 when Rhône-Poulenc S.A. merged with Hoechst AG. The merged company was based in Strasbourg, France. With its headquarters in Strasbourg, Aventis was the product of the first transnational merger to combine large...
after its merger with France's Rhône-Poulenc
Rhône-Poulenc
-History of the company:The Company was founded in 1928 through the merger of Société des Usines Chimiques du Rhône from Lyon and Établissements Poulenc Frères from Paris founded by Étienne Poulenc, a 19th century Parisian apothecary and brought to prominence by his second and third sons Emile...
S.A. in 1999. And with the new company's 2004 merger with Sanofi-Synthélabo, it became a subsidiary of the resulting Sanofi-Aventis
Sanofi-Aventis
Sanofi S.A. is a multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in Paris, France, the world's fourth-largest by prescription sales. Sanofi engages in the research and development, manufacturing and marketing of pharmaceutical products for sale principally in the prescription market, but the...
pharmaceuticals group.
History
Höchst (Frankfurt am Main)
Höchst is a district of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It is part of the Ortsbezirk West, and is subdivided into 4 Stadtbezirke.Höchst am Main became part of Frankfurt am Main in 1928 together with its boroughs Sindlingen, Unterliederbach and Zeilsheim. It is situated 10 km west of downtown...
, near Frankfurt
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
and changed its name some years later to "Teerfarbenfabrik Meister Lucius & Brüning". In 1880 it became a stock company "Farbwerke vorm. Meister Lucius & Brüning AG". For the international market the name was simplified to "Farbwerke Hoechst AG". Until 1925 the Hoechst AG was independent. In 1916, the Hoechst AG was one of the co-founders of IG Farben
IG Farben
I.G. Farbenindustrie AG was a German chemical industry conglomerate. Its name is taken from Interessen-Gemeinschaft Farbenindustrie AG . The company was formed in 1925 from a number of major companies that had been working together closely since World War I...
, a pressure group of Germany's chemicals industry to gain industrial power during and after World War I. In 1925, IG Farben turned from a pressure group into the well-known conglomerate.
World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
- Various Hoechst facilities were bombed during the Oil Campaign of World War II
Oil Campaign of World War II
The Allied Oil Campaign of World War II was directed at facilities supplying Nazi Germany with petroleum, oil, and lubrication products...
1951 - Hoechst AG was re-founded on December 7 in Frankfurt when IG Farben was split into its founder companies. The original capitalization of the company was 100,000 Deutsche Mark
German mark
The Deutsche Mark |mark]], abbreviated "DM") was the official currency of West Germany and Germany until the adoption of the euro in 2002. It is commonly called the "Deutschmark" in English but not in German. Germans often say "Mark" or "D-Mark"...
. By 1953 Hoechst had acquired parts of Knapsack-Griesheim, Kalle AG, Behring Werke, Wacker Chemie
Wacker Chemie
Wacker Chemie AG is a worldwide operating company in the chemical business, founded 1914. The company is controlled by the Wacker-family holding more than 50 percent of the shares. The corporation is operating more than 25 production sites in Europe, Asia, and the Americas...
and Ruhr Chemie, among others.
1969 - Hoechst acquired Cassella.
1987 - Hoechst acquired the American chemical company Celanese
Celanese
Celanese Corporation is a Fortune 500 global technology and specialty materials company with its headquarters in Dallas, Texas. The company is a leading producer of acetyl products, which are intermediate chemicals for nearly all major industries, and is the world's largest producer of vinyl...
and formed a new Hoechst subsidiary in the US, Hoechst Celanese.
1994 - The U.S. National Right to Life Committee
National Right to Life Committee
The National Right to Life Committee is the oldest and largest pro-life organization in the United States with affiliates in all 50 states and over 3,000 local chapters nationwide. The group works through legislation and education to work against abortion, infanticide, euthanasia and assisted...
announced a U.S. boycott of all Hoechst pharmaceutical products including Altace because of the abortion pill RU-486.
1994 (September 17) - Pharmacists For Life International joins the international boycott, "...against the American subsidiary of Hoechst, AG Hoechst-Roussel, Hoechst-Celanese, its generic subsidiary Copley Pharmaceutical, Inc. and the agricultural Hoechst subsidiary" while asking U.S. consumers to "focus on key Hoechst drugs which have the most economic impact rather than taking an across-the-board shotgun approach" and specifically listing Altace as a boycott list item.
1995 - Hoechst merges with Marion Merrell Dow
Marion Merrell Dow
Marion Merrell Dow and its predecessor Marion Laboratories was a U.S. pharmaceutical company based in Kansas City, Missouri from 1950 until 1996....
of Kansas City, Missouri forming U.S. subsidiary Hoechst Marion Roussel (HMR). Altace was bringing in under $90 million in revenues for Hoechst and Hoechst had stopped promoting Altace within the United States.
1995 - The King Pharmaceuticals
King Pharmaceuticals
King Pharmaceuticals , was the world's 39th largest pharmaceutical company, based in Bristol, Tennessee. However, on October 12, 2010, King was acquired by Pfizer for $14.25 per share. King produced a wide range of pharmaceuticals, including Altace for heart attack prevention, Levoxyl for...
President Jefferson "Jeff" Gregory first begins negotiations with Hoechst to acquire U.S. distribution rights to Altace.
1997 - Hoechst underwent a realignment wherein its various businesses were transferred to independent companies, including Nutrinova
Nutrinova
Nutrinova is a global manufacturer of food constituents. It was formerly known as Hoechst until 1997 when it was taken over by Celanese and adopted its current name.The company is headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany. It is a wholly owned affiliate of Celanese....
and Clariant
Clariant
Clariant is a Swiss speciality chemical company which was formed in 1995 as a spin off from Sandoz.- Business :The company has a turnover of around US$8 billion and is headquartered in Muttenz, near Basel, Switzerland....
.
1997 (April 2) - The pro-life group Concerned Women For America
Concerned Women for America
Concerned Women for America is a conservative Christian public policy group active in the United States best known for its stance against abortion...
announces at a National Right To Life Committee press briefing at the National Press Club that the anti-RU486 boycott against the U.S. subsidiaries of Hoechst AG & Roussel Uclaf by the NRTLC "...will be more narrowly focused onto the HMR prescription drugs Allegra
Fexofenadine
Fexofenadine is an antihistamine drug used in the treatment of hayfever and similar allergy symptoms...
, Cardizem
Diltiazem
Diltiazem is a non-dihydropyridine member of the class of drugs known as calcium channel blockers, used in the treatment of hypertension, angina pectoris, and some types of arrhythmia....
, Seldane
Terfenadine
Terfenadine is an antihistamine formerly used for the treatment of allergic conditions. It was brought to market by Hoechst Marion Roussel and marketed under various brand names including Seldane in the United States, Triludan in the United Kingdom, and Teldane in Australia...
, Claforan
Cefotaxime
Cefotaxime is a third-generation cephalosporin antibiotic. Like other third-generation cephalosporins, it has broad spectrum activity against Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria...
, Lasix
Furosemide
Furosemide or frusemide is a loop diuretic used in the treatment of congestive heart failure and edema. It is most commonly marketed by Sanofi-Aventis under the brand name Lasix...
, Diabeta
Glibenclamide
Glibenclamide , also known as glyburide , is an antidiabetic drug in a class of medications known as sulfonylureas, closely related to sulfa drugs...
, and Nicoderm
Nicoderm
NicoDerm, also known as NicoDerm CQ is a branded over the counter palliative nicotine replacement therapy used to minimize the withdrawal effects involved in quitting smoking....
" - and Altace is auspiciously no longer included by Concerned Women For Americas as a boycotted Hoechst Marion Roussel product.
1998 (December 18) - The King Pharmaceuticals wholly owned subsidiary Monarch Pharmaceuticals, Inc. acquires ownership of U.S. distribution rights to Altace and other Hoechst products from Hoechst AG subsidiary Hoechst Marion Roussel of Kansas City, Missouri.
1999 (December 7) - Hoechst and Rhone-Poulenc Settle Federal Trade Commission charges that merger would violate U.S. antitrust laws;
1999 - Aventis
Aventis
Aventis was a pharmaceutical and lab assay testing company. It was formed in 1999 when Rhône-Poulenc S.A. merged with Hoechst AG. The merged company was based in Strasbourg, France. With its headquarters in Strasbourg, Aventis was the product of the first transnational merger to combine large...
was formed when Hoechst AG merged with Rhône-Poulenc
Rhône-Poulenc
-History of the company:The Company was founded in 1928 through the merger of Société des Usines Chimiques du Rhône from Lyon and Établissements Poulenc Frères from Paris founded by Étienne Poulenc, a 19th century Parisian apothecary and brought to prominence by his second and third sons Emile...
S.A. The merged company was headquartered in Strasbourg
Strasbourg
Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...
, Eastern France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. As part of the merger, the company demerged many of its industrial businesses into Celanese, which became an independent company again (e.g. the Engineering Polymers business Ticona
Ticona
Ticona is an international manufacturer of engineering polymers. The company's head office is located at the Ticona/Celanese-Plant in Florence, Kentucky, USA, since 2005.-Company history:...
).
2005 - The company became a wholly owned subsidiary of Sanofi-Aventis
Sanofi-Aventis
Sanofi S.A. is a multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in Paris, France, the world's fourth-largest by prescription sales. Sanofi engages in the research and development, manufacturing and marketing of pharmaceutical products for sale principally in the prescription market, but the...
.