Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA is a

health care Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people. Health care is delivered by health profes ...

company based in

Bad Homburg vor der Höhe Bad Homburg vor der Höhe () is the district town of the Hochtaunuskreis, Hesse, on the southern slope of the Taunus mountains. Bad Homburg is part of the Frankfurt Rhein-Main urban area. The town's official name is ''Bad Homburg v.d.Höhe'', w ...

, Germany. It provides products and services for dialysis, in hospitals and inpatient and outpatient medical care. It is involved in hospital management and in engineering and services for medical centers and other health care facilities. The company is ranked 258th on the Forbes Global 2000. 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.

Operations

There are four divisions: *

Fresenius Medical Care Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA is an American- German healthcare company which provides kidney dialysis services through a network of 4,171 outpatient dialysis centers, serving 345,425 patients. The company primarily treats end-stage renal d ...

, a publicly traded company of which Fresenius owns 30.8%, focuses on patients with chronic kidney failure. With a North American headquarters in

Waltham, Massachusetts Waltham ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, and was an early center for the labor movement as well as a major contributor to the American Industrial Revolution. The original home of the Boston Manufacturing Company, th ...

, it has a 38% market share of 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 A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emergen ...

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 Paclitaxel (PTX), sold under the brand name Taxol among others, is a chemotherapy medication used to treat a number of types of cancer. This includes ovarian cancer, esophageal cancer, breast cancer, lung cancer, Kaposi's sarcoma, cervical ca ...

, Irinotecan,

Oxaliplatin Oxaliplatin, sold under the brand name Eloxatin among others, is a cancer medication ( platinum-based antineoplastic class) used to treat colorectal cancer. It is given by injection into a vein. Common side effects include numbness, feeling t ...

Gemcitabine Gemcitabine, with brand names including Gemzar, is a chemotherapy medication. It treats cancers including testicular cancer, breast cancer, ovarian cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, and bladder cancer. It is administered by ...

Cytarabine Cytarabine, also known as cytosine arabinoside (ara-C), is a chemotherapy medication used to treat acute myeloid leukemia (AML), acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL), chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. It is given by i ...

, Carboplatin, Topotecan, Docetaxel, and

Epirubicin Epirubicin is an anthracycline drug used for chemotherapy. It can be used in combination with other medications to treat breast cancer in patients who have had surgery to remove the tumor. It is marketed by Pfizer under the trade name Ellence in t ...

. * Fresenius Vamed develops and manages

health care facilities A health facility is, in general, any location where healthcare is provided. Health facilities range from small clinics and doctor's offices to urgent care centers and large hospitals with elaborate emergency rooms and trauma centers. The numbe ...

Structure

* Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA **

*** 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 Calea UK is a supplier of parenteral nutrition based in Runcorn, part of Fresenius Kabi. In July 2019 the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency imposed restrictions on the company following an inspection which it said had revealed ...

History

The company was founded by Eduard Fresenius in 1912. 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. In 1966, the company began to sell dialysis machines. In 1982, the company converted to a

joint stock company A joint-stock company is a business entity in which shares of the company's stock can be bought and sold by shareholders. Each shareholder owns company stock in proportion, evidenced by their shares (certificates of ownership). Shareholders are ...

. In 1983, the company began producing polysulfone fiber membranes. In 1986, the company became a public company, listing shares on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. In 1996, the company merged its dialysis business into National Medical Care to form

. In 1999, the company acquired the international nutrition business of

Pharmacia & Upjohn Pharmacia & Upjohn was a global pharmaceutical company formed by the merger of Sweden-based Pharmacia AB and the American company Upjohn in 1995. Today the remainder of the company is owned by Pfizer. In 1997, Pharmacia & Upjohn sold several b ...

and merged it with Fresenius Pharma to form Fresenius Kabi. In 2001, the company acquired Wittgensteiner Kliniken, a major operator of private hospitals in Germany. In 2005, the company acquired Helios. In March 2005, Fresenius Kabi AG acquired Labesfal (Laboratório de Especialidades Farmacêuticas Almiro S.A.). In September 2006, Helios Kliniken acquired a majority stake in Humaine Kliniken. HUMAINE operates six acute and post acute care hospitals in the fields of neurology, oncology and traumatology. On July 16, 2007, the company completed its conversion from an

Aktiengesellschaft (; abbreviated AG, ) is a German word for a corporation limited by share ownership (i.e. one which is owned by its shareholders) whose shares may be traded on a stock market. The term is used in Germany, Austria, Switzerland (where it is equi ...

(AG - German public limited company) to a

Societas Europaea A ''societas Europaea'' (, ; "European society" or "company"; plural: ; abbr. SE) is a public company registered in accordance with the corporate law of the European Union (EU), introduced in 2004 with the Council Regulation on the Statute ...

, the European Union-wide equivalent. The company changed its legal status once again on January 28, 2011, becoming a Kommanditgesellschaft auf Aktien (KGaA - German partnership limited by shares) with a ''

'' as a partner with unlimited liability (SE & Co. KGaA). In August 2008, Fresenius Kabi acquired 73.3% of Dabur Pharma of India. In September 2008, Fresenius Kabi acquired APP Pharmaceuticals, Inc. In October 2011, the company agreed to acquire 51% of the share capital in Katholisches Klinikum Duisburg hospital. Also in October 2011, Helios Kliniken acquired 94.7% of the share capital in Damp Group. In September 2013, Fresenius acquired 41 hospitals from Rhön-Klinikum for €3.07 billion. In 2014, Fresenius sold its 5% stake in Rhön-Klinikum. In November 2014, the company announced that its Russian partners,

Sistema AFK Sistema PAO is a large Russian conglomerate company, founded by Vladimir Yevtushenkov, who was chairman of the corporation's board of directors until 2022. In April, Yevtushenkov's shareholding in Sistema has decreased to 49.2%, and he also ...

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. In January 2016, Fresenius Kabi announced that it would acquire

Becton Dickinson Becton, Dickinson and Company, also known as BD, is an American multinational medical technology company that manufactures and sells medical devices, instrument systems, and reagents. BD also provides consulting and analytics services in certai ...

's prescription drug business. In February 2016, Fresenius Helios acquired the municipal hospital in Velbert, North Rhine-Westphalia. 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. In September 2017, Fresenius Kabi acquired Merck KGaA's

biosimilar A biosimilar (also known as follow-on biologic or subsequent entry biologic) is a biologic medical product that is almost an identical copy of an original product that is manufactured by a different company. Biosimilars are officially approved ...

s business. In February 2019,

acquired NxStage, a US-based maker of in-home dialysis devices, for $2 billion. Fresenius Kabi is a supplier of 0.9% sodium chloride Injection USP diluent for use with the

Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine The Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine ( INN: tozinameran), sold under the brand name Comirnaty, is an mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine developed by the German biotechnology company BioNTech. For its development, BioNTech collaborated with Amer ...

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 Sepsis, formerly known as septicemia (septicaemia in British English) or blood poisoning, is a life-threatening condition that arises when the body's response to infection causes injury to its own tissues and organs. This initial stage is follo ...

. Fresenius Kabi, which makes the product, threatened legal action against the main author, Danish scientist Anders Perner.

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 The Crown Court is the court of first instance of England and Wales responsible for hearing all indictable offences, some either way offences and appeals lied to it by the magistrates' courts. It is one of three Senior Courts of England and Wal ...

for supplying faulty insulin syringes containing no insulin, leading to the death of Neil Judge from

diabetic ketoacidosis Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) is a potentially life-threatening complication of diabetes mellitus. Signs and symptoms may include vomiting, abdominal pain, deep gasping breathing, increased urination, weakness, confusion and occasionally loss of ...

in 2010.

Bribery allegations

In 2019, the company paid $231 million to the

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United State ...

to settle allegations of civil

bribery Bribery is the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official, or other person, in charge of a public or legal duty. With regard to governmental operations, essentially, bribery is "Corru ...

to obtain business in

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, and Spain. 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. 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.Jan Willmroth: Ärmer scheinen, reicher werden. Süddeutsche Zeitung
21. Januar 2020 (Ressort Wirtschaft).

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fresenius (company) 1912 establishments in Germany Companies based in Hesse German brands Life sciences industry Medical and health organisations based in Hesse Medical technology companies of Germany Multinational companies headquartered in Germany Pharmaceutical companies of Germany Pharmaceutical companies established in 1912 Bad Homburg vor der Höhe