Organon & Co. is an American pharmaceutical company headquartered in

Jersey City, New Jersey Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.reproductive medicine Reproductive medicine is a branch of medicine concerning the male and female reproductive systems. It encompasses a variety of reproductive conditions, their prevention and assessment, as well as their subsequent treatment and prognosis. Reprodu ...

contraception Birth control, also known as contraception, anticonception, and fertility control, is the use of methods or devices to prevent unwanted pregnancy. Birth control has been used since ancient times, but effective and safe methods of birth contr ...

psychiatry Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of mental disorders. These include various maladaptations related to mood, behaviour, cognition, and perceptions. See glossary of psychiatry. Initial psych ...

hormone replacement therapy Hormone replacement therapy (HRT), also known as menopausal hormone therapy or postmenopausal hormone therapy, is a form of hormone therapy used to treat symptoms associated with female menopause. These symptoms can include hot flashes, vaginal ...

(HRT), and

anesthesia Anesthesia is a state of controlled, temporary loss of sensation or awareness that is induced for medical or veterinary purposes. It may include some or all of analgesia (relief from or prevention of pain), paralysis (muscle relaxation), ...

. Organon sells to international markets.

History

Organon was founded by Dr. Saal van Zwanenberg in Oss,

the Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, in 1923 as a separate part of the meat factory Zwanenberg's fabrieken. Its first product was

insulin Insulin (, from Latin ''insula'', 'island') is a peptide hormone produced by beta cells of the pancreatic islets encoded in humans by the ''INS'' gene. It is considered to be the main anabolic hormone of the body. It regulates the metabolism o ...

in 1923. In the thirties it manufactured

estrogen Estrogen or oestrogen is a category of sex hormone responsible for the development and regulation of the female reproductive system and secondary sex characteristics. There are three major endogenous estrogens that have estrogenic hormonal acti ...

s. In 1948, Organon acquired the Newhouse research site in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. The production of

cortisone Cortisone is a pregnene (21-carbon) steroid hormone. It is a naturally-occurring corticosteroid metabolite that is also used as a pharmaceutical prodrug; it is not synthesized in the adrenal glands. Cortisol is converted by the action of the enz ...

was initiated in 1953. In 1962, it bought the stock of the Nederlandsche Cocaïnefabriek. The company name was changed to Koninklijke Zwanenberg-Organon (KZO), and it merged with the fibre producer AKU in 1969 to become AKZO, later Akzo Nobel. Organon was the human health care business unit of

Akzo Nobel Akzo Nobel N.V., stylized as AkzoNobel, is a Dutch multinational company which creates paints and performance coatings for both industry and consumers worldwide. Headquartered in Amsterdam, the company has activities in more than 80 countrie ...

. In 2004, Organon acquired active-pharmaceutical-ingredient producer Diosynth. In November 2007,

Schering-Plough Schering-Plough Corporation was an American pharmaceutical company. It was originally the U.S. subsidiary of the German company Schering AG, which was founded in 1851 by Ernst Christian Friedrich Schering. As a result of nationalization, it beca ...

acquired Organon BioSciences and veterinary pharmaceutical company

Intervet Merck & Co., Inc. is an American Multinational corporation, multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in Rahway, New Jersey, and is named for Merck Group, founded in Germany in 1668, of whom it was once the American arm. The company doe ...

from

. Schering-Plough transferred Organon to its headquarters in

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. Two years later, Schering-Plough merged with Merck & Co., known as Merck Sharp & Dohme or MSD outside the United States and Canada. In May 2020, Merck & Co. announced that ''Organon & Co.'' will be the name of "the pending spin-off of its women’s health, legacy products, and biosimilars businesses, which the company says is on track to be completed by the end of the first half in 2021." Merck completed the spinoff and Organon & Co. became a publicly traded company on 3 June 2021. In November 2021, the business announced it would acquire Forendo Pharma and its lead compound, a potentially first-in-class oral 17β-hydroxysteroid

dehydrogenase A dehydrogenase is an enzyme belonging to the group of oxidoreductases that oxidizes a substrate by reducing an electron acceptor, usually NAD+/NADP+ or a flavin coenzyme such as FAD or FMN. Like all catalysts, they catalyze reverse as well as f ...

type 1 inhibitor.

Products

Products include:

Esmirtazapine Esmirtazapine (ORG-50,081) is a drug which was under development by Organon for the treatment of insomnia and vasomotor symptoms (e.g., hot flashes) associated with menopause. Esmirtazapine is the (''S'')-(+)- enantiomer of mirtazapine and poss ...

Remeron Mirtazapine, sold under the brand name Remeron amongst others, is an atypical antidepressant, and as such is used primarily to treat depression. Its effects may take up to four weeks, but can also manifest as early as one to two weeks. It is o ...

, Remeron SolTab, Sustanon, Deca-Durabolin, Pregnyl,

Implanon Etonogestrel is a medication which is used as a means of hormonal contraceptive, birth control for women. It is available as an implant placed under the skin of the upper arm under the brand names Nexplanon and Implanon, and in combination with ...

NuvaRing Ethinylestradiol/etonogestrel, sold under the brand names NuvaRing among others, is a hormonal vaginal ring used for birth control and to improve menstrual symptoms. It contains ethinylestradiol, an estrogen, and etonogestrel, a progestin. It i ...

, Marvelon, Desolett and a variety of other contraceptive products.

Research compounds

During its period of independent operation, Organon developed a large number of compounds which were never adopted for medical use, but continue to be used for a variety of scientific research. Notable compounds include: * Org 12962 * Org 20599 * Org 21465 * Org 25435 *

Org 25935 ORG-25935, also known as SCH-900435 is a synthetic drug developed by Organon International, which acts as a selective inhibitor of the glycine transporter GlyT-1. In animal tests it reduces alcohol consumption and has analgesic and anticonvulsan ...

* Org 26576 *

Org 27569 Org 27569 is a drug which acts as a potent and selective negative allosteric modulator of the cannabinoid CB1 receptor. Studies ''in vitro'' suggest that it binds to a regulatory site on the CB1 receptor target, causing a conformational change t ...

Org 28312 Org 28312 is a drug developed by Organon International which acts as a potent cannabinoid receptor full agonist at both the CB1 and CB2 receptors. It was developed with the aim of finding a water-soluble cannabinoid agonist suitable for intr ...

Org 28611 Org 28611 (SCH-900,111) is a drug developed by Organon International which acts as a potent cannabinoid receptor full agonist at both the CB1 and CB2 receptors. It was developed with the aim of finding a water-soluble cannabinoid agonist suit ...

* Org 37684

Medicaid fraud

In 2007, whistleblower lawsuits were filed against Organon in federal courts in Massachusetts and Texas. Organon was accused of selling its anti-depression medication

at a discount to nursing home pharmacies (in order to encourage use), yet filing claims to Medicare for reimbursement at the full, undiscounted price. Organon agreed to settle the case for $31 million in October 2014.

References

External links

*
Merck announces Organon as name for new spinoffPhoto of Organon Insulin carton, 1930Report to the Insulin Committee on Insulins in Europe, 1925 (University of Toronto)-page 26-Organon
{{Authority control Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange Corporate spin-offs Schering-Plough Pharmaceutical companies based in New Jersey Biotechnology companies of the United States Companies based in Jersey City, New Jersey Pharmaceutical companies established in 1923 2007 mergers and acquisitions Companies based in North Brabant Oss Dutch companies established in 1923