Fresenius (company)

Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA is a European multinational health care company based in Bad Homburg vor der Höhe, Germany. It provides products and services for dialysis in hospitals, as well as inpatient and outpatient medical care. The company is involved in hospital management and in engineering and services for medical centers and other health care facilities.

Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA

Company type	Kommanditgesellschaft auf Aktien with Societas Europaea as partner with unlimited liability
Traded as	FWB: FRE DAX Component
ISIN	DE0005785604
Industry	Health care
Founded	1912; 112 years ago (1912)
Founder	Eduard Fresenius
Headquarters	Bad Homburg vor der Höhe, Germany
Key people	Helen Giza (CEO and chairman of the management board) Wolfgang Kirsch (Chairman of the supervisory board)
Products	infusion pumps, medication, hospitals, medical care
Services	Dialysis
Revenue	€37.250 billion (2021) ^[1]
Operating income	€4.252 billion (2021) ^[1]
Net income	€1.867 billion (2021) ^[1]
Total assets	€71.962 billion (2021) ^[1]
Total equity	€29.288 billion (2021) ^[1]
Owner	Else Kröner-Fresenius Foundation (26.6%)
Number of employees	316,078 (2021) ^[1]^[dead link]
Website	www.fresenius.com

The company is ranked 411th in the Forbes Global 2000 list in 2023.^[2]

In March 2022, it announced plans to merge with InterWell Health and Cricket Health to form a new company, which will operate under the InterWell Health brand, focused on services for the earlier stages of kidney disease.^[3]

Operations

There are four divisions:

• Fresenius Medical Care, a publicly traded company of which Fresenius owns 30.8%, focuses on patients with chronic kidney failure.^[4] With its North American headquarters in Waltham, Massachusetts, it holds a 38% market share in the dialysis market in the United States.
• Fresenius Helios is the largest hospital operator and provider of inpatient and outpatient in Germany. The Helios Kliniken has more than 110 hospitals and more than 30,000 beds, treating over 4 million patients annually.
• Fresenius Kabi is a supplier of essential drugs, clinical nutrition products, and medical devices. It produces generic versions of intravenous oncology products such as Paclitaxel, Irinotecan, Oxaliplatin, Gemcitabine, Cytarabine, Carboplatin, Topotecan, Docetaxel, and Epirubicin.
• Fresenius Vamed develops and manages health care facilities.

Structure

• Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA
  • Fresenius Medical Care
    • NxStage Medical, Inc.
  • Fresenius Helios
    • Helios Kliniken GmbH
      • Humaine Kliniken
      • IDC Salud Holding S.L.U. (Quirónsalud)
      • Damp Group
  • Fresenius Kabi AG
    • Labesfal SA
    • Fresenius Kabi Oncology Plc
    • Dabur Pharma Ltd
    • APP Pharmaceuticals, Inc
    • Fenwal Holdings, Inc.
  • Fresenius Vamed
• Calea UK

History

The company was founded by Eduard Fresenius in 1912.^[5]

In 1946, Fresenius died. Else Kröner, his foster-daughter and protégée, who was still in pharmacy school at the time, inherited the company. Else Kröner rescued the company from significant debts by laying off the majority of staff and restructuring the business. Kröner died in 1988. Kröner's will left all of her assets to the Else Kröner-Fresenius-Foundation, which funds medical research.^[6]

In 1966, the company began to sell dialysis machines.^[5]

In 1982, the company converted to a joint stock company.^[5]

In 1983, the company began producing polysulfone fiber membranes.^[5]

In 1986, the company became a public company, listing shares on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.^[5]

In 1996, the company merged its dialysis business into National Medical Care to form Fresenius Medical Care.^[5]

In 1999, the company acquired the international nutrition business of Pharmacia & Upjohn and merged it with Fresenius Pharma to form Fresenius Kabi.^[5]https://www.fresenius.com/1294

In 2001, the company acquired Wittgensteiner Kliniken, a major operator of private hospitals in Germany.^[5]

In 2005, the company acquired Helios.^[5]

In March 2005, Fresenius Kabi AG acquired Labesfal (Laboratório de Especialidades Farmacêuticas Almiro S.A.).^{[7][8][non-primary source needed]}

In September 2006, Helios Kliniken acquired a majority stake in Humaine Kliniken.^{[9][non-primary source needed]} HUMAINE operates six acute and post acute care hospitals in the fields of neurology, oncology and traumatology.

On 16 July 2007 the company completed its conversion from an Aktiengesellschaft (AG - German public limited company) to a Societas Europaea, the European Union-wide equivalent.^{[10][non-primary source needed]} The company changed its legal status once again on 28 January 2011, becoming a Kommanditgesellschaft auf Aktien (KGaA - German partnership limited by shares) with a Societas Europaea as a partner with unlimited liability (SE & Co. KGaA).^{[11][non-primary source needed]}

In August 2008, Fresenius Kabi acquired 73.3% of Dabur Pharma of India.^[12]

In September 2008, Fresenius Kabi acquired APP Pharmaceuticals, Inc.^{[13][non-primary source needed]}

In October 2011, the company agreed to acquire 51% of the share capital in Katholisches Klinikum Duisburg hospital.^{[14][non-primary source needed]}

Also in October 2011, Helios Kliniken acquired 94.7% of the share capital in Damp Group.^[15]

In September 2013, Fresenius acquired 41 hospitals from Rhön-Klinikum for €3.07 billion.^[16][17] In 2014, Fresenius sold its 5% stake in Rhön-Klinikum.^[18]

In November 2014, the company announced that its Russian partners, Sistema and Zenitco Finance Management, agreed to terminate their joint venture agreement that had been established in April 2014. The termination was prompted by changing political and regulatory circumstances in the region.^[19]

In January 2016, Fresenius Kabi announced that it would acquire Becton Dickinson's prescription drug business.^[20]

In February 2016, Fresenius Helios acquired the municipal hospital in Velbert, North Rhine-Westphalia.^{[21][non-primary source needed]}

In January 2017, Fresenius acquired the largest Spanish hospital group, the Grupo Hospitalario Quirónsalud for €5.76 billion and merged it into the Helios Group, establishing the biggest hospital group of Europe.^{[22][non-primary source needed]}

In September 2017, Fresenius Kabi acquired Merck KGaA's biosimilars business.^{[23][non-primary source needed]}

In February 2019, Fresenius Medical Care acquired NxStage, a US-based maker of in-home dialysis devices, for $2 billion.^{[24][non-primary source needed][25]}

Fresenius Kabi is a supplier of 0.9% sodium chloride Injection USP diluent for use with the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.^[26]

Controversies

Concerns of use of hydroxyethyl starch and threats against researcher

In 2012, a paper was published raising concerns regarding the use of hydroxyethyl starch in sepsis.^[27] Fresenius Kabi, which makes the product, threatened legal action against the main author, Danish scientist Anders Perner.^[28]

Supply of faulty insulin syringes

In 2015, Fresenius Kabi Group pleaded guilty to breaches of United Kingdom's Medicines Act 1968 and was fined £500,000 by the Sheffield Crown Court for supplying faulty insulin syringes containing no insulin, leading to the death of Neil Judge from diabetic ketoacidosis in 2010.^[29][30]

Bribery allegations

In 2019, the company paid $231 million to the United States Department of Justice to settle allegations of civil bribery to obtain business in Angola, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, and Spain.^[31]

In January 2020, the Süddeutsche Zeitung reported on tricks used by the health care group Fresenius, according to a case study by the Steuerjustigkeit network.^[32] The study shows that it is by no means just US digital groups that are shifting their profits to low-tax countries and that Fresenius is trying to reduce the tax burden by legal means with the help of branches in so-called tax havens and subsidiaries. Tax avoidance is not a prohibited tax evasion.^[33]

References

1. (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 June 2022. Retrieved 2 April 2022.
2. "Fresenius". Forbes.
3. Landi, Heather (21 March 2022). "3 kidney care providers—Fresenius Health Partners, Cricket Health and InterWell Health—plan to merge in deal valued at $2.4B". Fierce healthcare. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
4. "Group Overview". Fresenius.
5. "History - Fresenius". www.fresenius.com. Fresenius.
6. "Else Kröner-Fresenius-Stiftung (Foundation)". Fresenius.
7. "Fresenius Kabi closed acquisition of I.V. drug company Labesfal" (Press release). Fresenius. March 16, 2005.^{[dead link]}
8. "Fresenius Kabi continues growth strategy and acquires I.V. drug company" (Press release). Fresenius. January 7, 2005. ^{[dead link]}
9. "HELIOS obtains antitrust approval to acquire HUMAINE Kliniken" (Press release). Fresenius. September 11, 2006. ^{[dead link]}
10. "Fresenius completes conversion into a European Company (SE)" (Press release). Fresenius. July 16, 2007. ^{[dead link]}
11. "Fresenius implements share conversion and change of legal form – First trading day of Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA shares scheduled for January 31, 2011" (Press release). Fresenius. 28 January 2011.^{[dead link]}
12. "German co Fresenius Kabi picks up 73% in Dabur Pharma". The Times of India. April 20, 2008.
13. "Fresenius closes APP acquisition" (Press release). Fresenius. September 10, 2008. ^{[dead link]}
14. "HELIOS acquires majority of maximum care hospital in Duisburg, North-Rhine Westphalia" (Press release). Fresenius. October 31, 2011. ^{[dead link]}
15. "HELIOS continues expansion in German hospital market, acquires Damp Group" (Press release). Fresenius. October 12, 2011.
16. Gould, Jonathan; Burger, Ludwig (September 13, 2013). "Rhoen-Klinikum to sell hospitals to Fresenius in $4 billion deal". Reuters.
17. Ross, Alice (September 13, 2013). "Fresenius buys Rhön-Klinikum hospitals for €3bn". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 2022-12-11. Retrieved 2019-06-23.
18. Dauer, Ulrike (June 30, 2014). "Fresenius Sells Rhoen-Klinikum Stake". The Wall Street Journal.
19. "Fresenius says Fresenius Kabi and Russian partners terminate JV". Reuters. 6 November 2014.
20. "Fresenius Kabi USA Acquires U.S. Pharmaceutical Plant and Ready-to-Administer Drugs from BD" (Press release). Business Wire. January 8, 2016.
21. "Fresenius Helios acquires hospital in North Rhine-Westphalia with more than 500 beds" (Press release). Fresenius. February 22, 2016. ^{[dead link]}
22. "Fresenius Helios closes acquisition of Quirónsalud" (Press release). Fresenius. January 31, 2017. ^{[dead link]}
23. "Fresenius Kabi completes acquisition of Merck KGaA's biosimilars business" (Press release). Fresenius. September 1, 2017.
24. "Fresenius Medical Care completes acquisition of NxStage Medical" (Press release). PR Newswire. February 26, 2019.
25. BANNOW, TARA (February 26, 2019). "Fresenius Medical Care closes $2 billion NxStage acquisition". Modern Healthcare.
26. "Package Insert - Comirnaty". U.S. Food and Drug Administration. December 2021. Retrieved 2022-05-24.
27. Perner, Anders; Haase, Nicolai; Guttormsen, Anne B.; Tenhunen, Jyrki; Klemenzson, Gudmundur; Åneman, Anders; Madsen, Kristian R.; Møller, Morten H.; Elkjær, Jeanie M.; Poulsen, Lone M.; Bendtsen, Asger; Winding, Robert (July 12, 2012). "Hydroxyethyl starch 130/0.42 versus Ringer's acetate in severe sepsis". The New England Journal of Medicine. 367 (2): 124–34. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa1204242. PMID 22738085.
28. Wojcik, Jeppe (July 24, 2012). "Pharma giant threatens Danish scientist". ScienceNordic.
29. "Insulin-free syringe firms fined over diabetic death". BBC News. 9 July 2015.
30. Ford, Steve (9 July 2015). "Firms fined for supplying hospital with faulty syringes". Nursing Times.
31. Lynch, Sarah N.; Raymond, Nate (March 29, 2019). "Fresenius Medical Care to pay $231 million to resolve criminal, civil foreign bribery charges". Reuters.
32. "Globale Steuervermeidung eines multinationalen Gesundheitskonzerns aus Deutschland" [Global tax avoidance by a multinational healthcare company from Germany] (PDF) (in German). Retrieved 2022-04-28.
33. Diesteldorf, Jan (2020-01-21). "Ärmer scheinen - aber reicher werden" [Taxes: Seem poorer - but get richer]. Süddeutsche.de (in German). Retrieved 2024-04-12.

Further reading

• Kamp, Michael / Neumann, Florian: Fresenius – 100 Years. Munich: August Dreesbach Verlag, 2012. ISBN 978-3-940061-84-3.

External links

• Official website