Company history: 1960-1975

Lundbeck established a strong reputation for itself in psycho-pharmaceuticals at the beginning of the 1960s. At the Golden Jubilee celebrations in 1965, the company was praised for its efforts to improve the quality of life for the mentally ill and for the Lundbeck Foundation’s financial support for medical research. The Foundation was created in 1954, when Grete Lundbeck withdrew from the company's day-to-day management. However, she still held the post of foundation Chairman, and owned 50.5 percent of the company shares until her death in 1965. The Foundation also bought the Goldschmidt family's shares in 1967 for DKK 32 million, thereby becoming the company's sole owner.

Due to the continuous expansion, the Valby factory could not keep up with demand, and expanding production capacity was deemed necessary. The opportunities in Copenhagen were limited, so in 1961 Lundbeck bought a former dairy at Lumsås on Sjællands Odde, a peninsula in Northwest Zealand. The dairy had been closed due to a centralization of production, so all the remaining equipment – waste-water disposal system and permission to pump its own water - was available to Lundbeck. The company was also fortunate enough to attract a group of stable, skilful employees in the local area. Production of active compounds was soon under way and it was not long before the Lumsås factory was fully integrated into Lundbeck's daily business activities.

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In 1961 Lundbeck bought a former dairy in north-west Zealand in Lumsaas

The division of work between Valby and Lumsås worked so well, more and more tasks were moved to Northwest Zealand. New, improved facilities were required, but the expansion possibilities were good. Between 1963 and 1974, the old dairy in Lumsås was expanded to include four synthesis factories, a boiler house, a laboratory, workshops, and stores. Lundbeck also acquired another 15 hectares of land near the plant so that future expansion was secured.

Even though Lundbeck was able to supply a broad range of original antidepressants – particularly antipsychotics – the home market was limited. The major sales opportunities lay beyond Denmark's frontiers.

Lundbeck had already established its first foreign subsidiary in Malmö, Sweden, at the beginning of the Second World War. International contacts were extended in the late 1940s and 1950s to include Norway, Finland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Austria. Most of these sales channels were based on agency agreements, but with exports accounting for some three-quarters of turnover, there were clear advantages in establishing subsidiaries.

Many of the old agency agreements were replaced by "genuine" Lundbeck representation in the 1960s. The company opened new offices in New York and Paris and, in 1972, Lundbeck Ltd. was established in Luton, England, with seven sales consultants and office staff. Internationalization was now in full swing. Lundbeck employed 580 staff members in Denmark and 99 abroad by 1970 – almost twice as many people as 10 years earlier.

 

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