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The story
Founded by Anton Antons and August Kongsted on Feb 10, 1962.1
Formation & the 20th Century
In 1908, pharmacists August Kongsted and Anton Antons bought the LEO Pharmacy in Copenhagen, Denmark. With the purchase, they established 'Københavns Løveapoteks kemiske Fabrik', today known as LEO Pharma. LEO products are available in more than a hundred countries. Today, LEO Pharma has over 4,800 specialists focusing on dermatology and thrombosis.
1912 – The company launched its own Aspirin headache tablet
1917 – The company exported Denmark's first drug, Digisolvin
1940 – The company launched its own heparin product.
1958 – Patent filed for bendrofluazide.
1962 – The company launched Fucidin to be used to treat staphylococcus infections.
21st Century & onwards
In 2018, the company acquired Bayer's dermatology unit for an undisclosed amount.
In April 2022, the company appointed Christophe Bourdon as its new CEO. Prior to this, he served as the CEO of Orphazyme A/S.
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In January 2023, the company started extensive layoffs (of about 300 of its current employees, or ~5% of the workforce) as a part of major restructuring and reorganization in anticipation of a possibly planned IPO. Because of slimming down of the company's R&D program, new early-stage drug candidates will have to be sourced externally.
In August 2023, it was announced LEO Pharma had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire key assets of the Basking Ridge-headquartered biopharma company, Timber Pharmaceuticals, for $36 million. This transaction included TMB-001, a topical isotretinoin ointment currently under development for the treatment of moderate to severe subtypes of Congenital Ichthyosis (CI), which has no treatment options.
In September 2023, the company announced the implementation of a new capital structure with over 4 billion Danish kroner (approximately $587 million) allocated for business development and mergers and acquisitions. The company is focused on acquiring assets aimed at treating rare dermatological diseases with unmet medical needs.
In February 2024, LEO Pharma announced a net loss of 3.6 billion DKK (equivalent to $528 million) for 2023 due to non-recurring project impairments, tax asset adjustments, and rising interest expenses. It also reported that it had cut its operating costs by 14% and increased its revenues by 7% in 2023.
In February 2025, LEO Pharma reported a net loss of 1.7 billion DKK for 2024 while revenues grew by 10% to 12.4 billion DKK.
From Wikipedia’s article on Leo Pharma, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5