Serono
Encyclopedia
| Serono | ||
|---|---|---|
| Type | Stock corporation | |
| Founded | 1906 | |
| Location | Geneva, Switzerland (Headquarters) | |
| Key people | Ernesto Bertarelli Ernesto Bertarelli Ernesto Bertarelli is a Swiss-Italian billionaire and entrepreneur.Together with his extended family, Bertarelli was ranked 81st in the 2011 annual ranking of the world's wealthiest people compiled and published by Forbes magazine, The family's wealth was estimated at US$10.0... CEO |
Claudio Bertarelli Chairman of the Board |
| Industry Industry Industry refers to the production of an economic good or service within an economy.-Industrial sectors:There are four key industrial economic sectors: the primary sector, largely raw material extraction industries such as mining and farming; the secondary sector, involving refining, construction,... |
Biotechnology Biotechnology Biotechnology is a field of applied biology that involves the use of living organisms and bioprocesses in engineering, technology, medicine and other fields requiring bioproducts. Biotechnology also utilizes these products for manufacturing purpose... / Pharmaceutical Pharmaceutical company The pharmaceutical industry develops, produces, and markets drugs licensed for use as medications. Pharmaceutical companies are allowed to deal in generic and/or brand medications and medical devices... |
|
| Key Products Product (business) In general, the product is defined as a "thing produced by labor or effort" or the "result of an act or a process", and stems from the verb produce, from the Latin prōdūce ' lead or bring forth'. Since 1575, the word "product" has referred to anything produced... |
Rebif, Gonal-f, Luveris, Ovidrel/Ovitrelle, Serostim, Saizen, Zorbtive and Raptiva | |
| Revenue Revenue In business, revenue is income that a company receives from its normal business activities, usually from the sale of goods and services to customers. In many countries, such as the United Kingdom, revenue is referred to as turnover.... |
USD ~2.5 billion (2005) | |
| Website Website A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet... |
http://www.serono.com | |
Serono is a biotechnology
Biotechnology
Biotechnology is a field of applied biology that involves the use of living organisms and bioprocesses in engineering, technology, medicine and other fields requiring bioproducts. Biotechnology also utilizes these products for manufacturing purpose...
company headquartered in Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
. The company was founded as the Serono Pharmacolodgical Institute by Cesare Serono in 1906 in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. A key step in its development was the discovery of a method of extracting urinary gonadotropin
Gonadotropin
Gonadotropins are protein hormones secreted by gonadotrope cells of the pituitary gland of vertebrates. This is a family of proteins, which include the mammalian hormones follitropin , lutropin , placental chorionic gonadotropins hCG and eCG and chorionic gonadotropin , as well as at least two...
s by Dr Piero Donini allowing the company to become a leader in the supplier of fertility medications, notably Pergonal. Serono was incorporated in 1987 and the holding company, Ares-Serono S.A., changed its name to Serono S.A. in May 2000.
Serono as a stand-alone company develops and markets pharmaceuticals in the fields of Reproductive Health, Multiple Sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis is an inflammatory disease in which the fatty myelin sheaths around the axons of the brain and spinal cord are damaged, leading to demyelination and scarring as well as a broad spectrum of signs and symptoms...
, Growth & Metabolism
Metabolism
Metabolism is the set of chemical reactions that happen in the cells of living organisms to sustain life. These processes allow organisms to grow and reproduce, maintain their structures, and respond to their environments. Metabolism is usually divided into two categories...
and Dermatology
Dermatology
Dermatology is the branch of medicine dealing with the skin and its diseases, a unique specialty with both medical and surgical aspects. A dermatologist takes care of diseases, in the widest sense, and some cosmetic problems of the skin, scalp, hair, and nails....
. It is a world-leader in the infertility market with an estimated market share of 60%, making it the third largest biotechnology company in the world. Serono's most important product accounted for 31.6% of the company's sales in 2004.
The eight biotechnology products are available in four core therapeutic areas: neurology
Neurology
Neurology is a medical specialty dealing with disorders of the nervous system. Specifically, it deals with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of disease involving the central, peripheral, and autonomic nervous systems, including their coverings, blood vessels, and all effector tissue,...
for the treatment of relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis is an inflammatory disease in which the fatty myelin sheaths around the axons of the brain and spinal cord are damaged, leading to demyelination and scarring as well as a broad spectrum of signs and symptoms...
, reproductive health for treatments of infertility
Infertility
Infertility primarily refers to the biological inability of a person to contribute to conception. Infertility may also refer to the state of a woman who is unable to carry a pregnancy to full term...
, dermatology
Dermatology
Dermatology is the branch of medicine dealing with the skin and its diseases, a unique specialty with both medical and surgical aspects. A dermatologist takes care of diseases, in the widest sense, and some cosmetic problems of the skin, scalp, hair, and nails....
, where Serono has launched biologics in Europe for moderate-to-severe psoriasis
Psoriasis
Psoriasis is an autoimmune disease that appears on the skin. It occurs when the immune system mistakes the skin cells as a pathogen, and sends out faulty signals that speed up the growth cycle of skin cells. Psoriasis is not contagious. However, psoriasis has been linked to an increased risk of...
, and
growth and metabolism
Metabolism
Metabolism is the set of chemical reactions that happen in the cells of living organisms to sustain life. These processes allow organisms to grow and reproduce, maintain their structures, and respond to their environments. Metabolism is usually divided into two categories...
for treatments for HIV-associated wasting and growth deficiencies.
The Company also conducts research in oncology
Oncology
Oncology is a branch of medicine that deals with cancer...
and autoimmune diseases.
Sale to Merck KGaA
36% of Serono was sold to Merck KGaAMerck KGaA
Merck KGaA is a German chemical and pharmaceutical company. Merck, also known as “German Merck” and “Merck Darmstadt”, was founded in Darmstadt, Germany, in 1668, making it the world's oldest operating chemical and pharmaceutical company. The company was privately owned until going public in 1995...
in Sept. 2006 for € 10,6 Billion; Merck KGaA
Merck KGaA
Merck KGaA is a German chemical and pharmaceutical company. Merck, also known as “German Merck” and “Merck Darmstadt”, was founded in Darmstadt, Germany, in 1668, making it the world's oldest operating chemical and pharmaceutical company. The company was privately owned until going public in 1995...
paid CHF 1,100 for each share. The new entity, which merges Serono with Merck's Ethicals division, is called Merck Serono. Its headquarters is in Geneva, within the new Serono facilities. The US operations are planned to remain near Boston. The process of merging started in January 2007 after various business regulatory reviews and phases are complete. Until that time, Serono and Merck KGaA still operate as separate entities. The new, combined entity, Merck Serono
Merck Serono
Merck Serono is a pharmaceutical company headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. In September 2006, Merck KGaA announced its intent to purchase the majority of Serono shares from Ernesto Bertarelli and the Bertarelli family. The Merck-Serono merger was announced on September 21, 2006...
is expected to equal the sizes of other large biotechs.
The very powerful Perfillon-Bertarelli family still holds 21% stake in the company (worth more than 8 billion euros)
Facilities
Serono operates in 44 countries, with manufacturing facilities in eight countries and sales in over 90 countries. Main manufacturing sites are in Switzerland, Italy, Spain and France; a fifth facility in Israel was closed in 2004 owing to its obsolescence. Research and development facilities are maintained in Geneva, Switzerland, Boston, USA, and IvreaIvrea
Ivrea is a town and comune of the province of Turin in the Piedmont region of northwestern Italy. Situated on the road leading to the Aosta Valley , it straddles the Dora Baltea and is regarded as the centre of the Canavese area. Ivrea lies in a basin that, in prehistoric times, formed a great lake...
, Italy. It employs over 4,750 people with worldwide revenues of USD 2,586.4 million (2005). It has eight biotechnology products on the market, and more than 25 ongoing preclinical and clinical development projects at the end of 2005.
Serono Headquarters and the Geneva research site moved to a brand new campus (Horizon Secheron) in the heart of Geneva in 2006.