Company history: 1930-1945

The Danish government decided to introduce foreign-currency restrictions as an answer to the worldwide economic crisis of the 1930s. The aim of these restrictions was to create more jobs in Denmark. Among other things, this meant that the medicines and cosmetics Lundbeck had previously imported ready-packed were now imported in bulk. The company began its own production, converting the preparations into tablets, and packing and labelling them in Denmark.

Growing production volume created a need for more space and additional employees. The company grew in pace with its product portfolio, and in 1937 it included Lundbeck’s first original medicine, Epicutan, a wound-healing preparation. Lundbeck had already established significant manufacturing activity when the Second World War began in September, 1939. Despite a shortage of raw materials, the company managed to keep production going.

 

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One of the first packing machines in the 1930s was a funnel with an oblong closing mechanism that cut of the flow of tablets when each pack was filled.

In 1939, Lundbeck moved to Ottiliavej in Valby, where there was space for the administration, laboratories, stables and production. This paved the way for proper organic-chemistry research, but the road ahead was not an easy one. Germany invaded Denmark on 9 April, 1940.

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Grete Lundbeck (1900-1965)

Hans Lundbeck was already experiencing health problems. To secure the company's future, he married Miss Grete Sterregaard, the company's senior secretary, after a 10-year engagement. Eduard Goldschmidt, the man who brought medicine to Lundbeck, was forced to withdraw from the company a short time later as a result of the occupying Germans' rampant anti-Semitism. Nevertheless, Lundbeck was able to celebrate its Silver Jubilee on 14 August 1940. A dinner was held for the 45 employees, but the German-imposed curfew made it necessary to stop the party at 11 p.m.

Continue to company history: 1945-1960

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