Zentiva is a

pharmaceutical company The pharmaceutical industry discovers, develops, produces, and markets drugs or pharmaceutical drugs for use as medications to be administered to patients (or self-administered), with the aim to cure them, vaccinate them, or alleviate sympto ...

based in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

. The company is developing, manufacturing and marketing a wide range of

generic Generic or generics may refer to: In business * Generic term, a common name used for a range or class of similar things not protected by trademark * Generic brand, a brand for a product that does not have an associated brand or trademark, other ...

and OTC products. Zentiva employs more than 4 700 people across Europe and has three manufacturing sites, in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

and

Ankleshwar Ankleshwar (sometimes written Ankaleshwar) is a city and a municipality in Bharuch district in the state of Gujarat, India. The city is located 14 kilometres from Bharuch. Ankleshwar Industrial Association (AIA) is the largest organisation of t ...

. Since 2018, Zentiva is wholly-owned by private equity firm

Advent International Advent International is a global private equity firm focused on buyouts of companies in Western and Central Europe, North America, Latin America and Asia. The firm focuses on international buyouts, growth and strategic restructuring in five core ...

; it was formerly, since 2008, a subsidiary of

Sanofi Sanofi S.A. is a French multinational pharmaceutical and healthcare company headquartered in Paris, France. Originally, the corporation was established in 1973 and merged with Synthélabo in 1999 to form Sanofi-Synthélabo. In 2004, Sanofi-Syn ...

History of Zentiva

The roots of the Czech pharmaceutical company date back to 1488 with the Black Eagle Pharmacy (“U Černého Orla”) located in the Prague city center:

Malá Strana Malá Strana (Czech for "Little Side (of the River)", ) or more formally Menší Město pražské () is a district of the city of Prague, Czech Republic, and one of its most historic neighbourhoods. In the Middle Ages, it was a dominant center o ...

. In 1857 pharmacy was bought by Benjamin & Karel Fragner (1824-1886). His expansion plans were started by his son Dr. Karel Fragner (1861-1926) and further expanded by Dr.Ing. Jiří Fragner (1900-1977). He, together with his brother, an architect Jaroslav Fragner, built and designed a new modern pharmaceutical factory in Dolní Měcholupy, which is now a part of Prague. Today Zentiva's headquarters are located on the original factory premises. The factory “Benjamin Fragner” started to produced medicines in August 1930. Its profitability was set upon a solid bedrock of active substances, with which intensive Research and Development started. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, after Czech universities were shut down following German-occupation, the Fragner factory became a refuge for many notable specialists. For example, one of the first successful isolation of penicillin (BF Mykoin 510) was achieved on this site. In 1946 the company is nationalised by the Czech government and the factory and the pharmacy are split apart. The factory became part of SPOFA (United Pharmaceutical Enterprises) employing 750. It was the leading pharmaceutical site in post-war Czechoslovakia. In the early sixties, to satisfy the demand of growing need of dosage forms, the question of upgrading the site to further increase the manufactured amounts was raised. The upgrade was completed in 1979 and led to the construction of new modern production facilities. Starting in 1989 the company went through a series of significant organisational and ownership changes. In 1993, the company's name is changed from Léčiva a.s. to Zentiva k.s. Later in 1998, Zentiva's management acquires a majority of shares and establishes a new focus on branded generic medicines. In 2003 a new corporate brand name was introduced: Zentiva CZ s.r.o.. In the same year, the leading pharmaceutical company from

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

(Slovakofarma) was added to Zentiva portfolio. In 2004, Zentiva is listed at the Prague and London Stock Exchanges. Zentiva also expanded to Poland and Russia and other markets of central and eastern Europe. Later in 2005: Sicomed (leading generic company in

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

nowadays Zentiva SA) was acquired and added to Zentiva portfolio. In the beginning of 2007 Zentiva increased its activity in Hungary and acquired Eczacibaşi Generic Pharmaceuticals (leading Turkish manufacturer). The year 2008 marked the acquisition of Zentiva by the French holding

and decided to make it its European generics platform. Zentiva became then part of the Sanofi Generics Franchise. In 2018, Advent International bought the European division of Sanofi's Generics business – Zentiva. Transaction of total worth 1,919 bn€. . Zentiva with the support of

, one of the biggest equity funds, became independent. Following the acquisition by Advent International, Zentiva entered in a fast-paced series of acquisition to build up its position in generics and OTC markets, in and outside Europe. In April 2019, Zentiva acquired Creo Pharmaceuticals, a UK-based subsidiary of the US-based

Amneal Pharmaceuticals Amneal Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is an American publicly traded generics and specialty pharmaceutical company. The company is headquartered in Bridgewater, New Jersey. History Amneal Pharmaceuticals was founded in 2002 by brothers Chirag and Chi ...

since 2013. Followed, in May, by Solacium the Romania-based pharmaceutical company expanding both its Generics and OTC footprint. In January 2022, Zentiva received the Top Employer recognition from the Top Employer Institute in the Czech Republic and Romania.

Acquisitions History

* 1857: Black Eagle Pharmacy bought by Benjamin & Karel Fragner * 1946: Pharmacy and Factory split apart * 2003: acquisition of Slovakofarma * 2005: acquisition of Sicomed * 2007: Zentiva acquired Eczacibaşi Generic Pharmaceuticals * 2008: Sanofi acquired Zentiva * 2018: Advent International acquired Zentiva * 2019: ** April: acquisition of Creo Pharmaceuticals ** May: acquisition of Solacium Pharmaceuticals ** September: signing of an agreement to acquire manufacturing site in

, India ** October: signing of a definitive agreement to acquire the Central and Eastern European Business of

Alvogen Alvogen is an American pharmaceuticals company founded in 2009. In 2014, a controlling stake in the company was acquired by CVC Capital Partners and Temasek Holdings. Alvogen has about 350 different medical and non-medical products, and both produ ...

*2020: **April: Acquisition of

CEE Business **May: Acquisition of

's manufacturing site in

, India

References

{{Portal, Companies Manufacturing companies based in Prague Czech brands Generic drug manufacturers Pharmaceutical companies of the Czech Republic Manufacturing companies of Czechoslovakia