Richter

Gedeon

Life

Gedeon Richter was born on the 23^rd of September, 1872, in Ecséd, Hungary. Due to the premature death of his parents, he was raised by family members in Gyöngyös from the age of one, where after finishing high school, he worked as a pharmacist’s apprentice in the local pharmacy. In 1893, he enrolled at the Faculty of Humanities and later, at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Budapest, where he graduated with outstanding results.

After graduating, he spent four years in Europe, where he gathered experience in pharmacies in Western countries and gained an insight into modern pharmacy and industrial pharmacy. After returning home, he went into business and in 1901 bought the Sas Pharmacy on Üllői Street. On this site, he established and operated a laboratory where he produced organotherapeutic medicines. Thanks to his early success, six years later he bought land in Kőbánya and built the first pharmaceutical factory in Hungary.

In 1902 he married Anna Winkler, whose family helped a lot in running the pharmaceutical company. Richter was an ambitious, hard-working and creative man throughout his life, and even in his seventies he still visited the factory every day. He died on the 30^th of December 1944, executed by members of the Arrow Cross Party along with 49 other men.

Work

Gedeon Richter had visited and gained experience in many pharmacies before opening his own laboratory in the Sas Pharmacy on Üllői Street. At the beginning of his career he produced organotherapeutic products from animal organs. Later, with the discovery of adrenaline, he took these medicines to a new level, and the demand for them became even bigger. His first organotherapeutic product, adrenaline, an extract of the adrenal hormone that increases blood pressure, is still used in medicine today.

Richter is also credited with the invention of Kalmopyrin, patented in 1912, and Hyperol, an antiseptic tablet. The solid compound preserving hydrogen peroxide with urea, known as Hyperol, played a major role during the First World War. It became standard equipment in the army and its use was made mandatory in medical tents. In 1911, he produced the most stable water-soluble salt of acetic acid, calcium acetylsalicylate, which is still one of the best-known medicines in Hungary, named Kalmopyrin.

Organotherapeutics, standardised herbal agents and the first synthetic products (Kalmopyrin and Hyperol) established the reputation of Richter Pharmaceuticals and made the company one of the leading international suppliers.

Nowadays, the Gedeon Richter pharmaceutical company continues to make new investments. In addition to the mother company in Hungary, it currently has manufacturing subsidiaries in 5 countries. The Richter Group continues to place great emphasis on innovation, and the global importance of its core profile is demonstrated by its achievements in original research and development.