Roussel Uclaf
Company type | S.A. (corporation) |
---|---|
Industry | Pharmaceutical |
Headquarters | , |
Key people | J.P. Godard (Chairman) O. Jacquesson (Director General) D. Camus (CFO) E. Sakiz (Chairman, Supervisory Board) M. Fruhauf (Vice-Chairman, Supervisory Board) |
Products | mifepristone (RU 486) |
Parent | Hoechst Schering AgrEvo GmBH (1994) |
Subsidiaries | Roussel UCLAF Holdings Corporation |
Footnotes / references [1],[2] |
Roussel Uclaf S.A. is a French company, headquartered in Romainville.[1] It is involved in healthcare, agro-chemical, animal health and related fields, although in 1994, many of its non-core activities were transferred to its new parent company, Hoechst Schering AgrEvo GmBH in Germany.[1],[2]
Although it has more than 10,000 patents worldwide,[1] Roussel Uclaf is best known for the abortifacient mifepristone, otherwise known by its laboratory name of RU 486. The US patent rights for this drug were donated to Population Council, Inc., a not-for-profit corporation in the USA, in 1994.[3]
The RU 486 drug involved the corporation in some controversy. In fact, in 1996, the US magazine The Economist reported that Roussel UCLAF considered abandoning the drug altogether.[4]
References
- ^ a b c d Business Directory
- ^ a b Businessweek profile, October 29, 2009
- ^ United States court of appeals, Case #96-1246, January 8, 1997
- ^ It embarrasses them. (French pharmaceutical company Roussel Uclaf may abandon its production of the drug RU486 because of its controversial use as an abortion pill). The Economist. March 30, 1996.