Čes. slov. farm. 2014, 63(2):90-98 | DOI: 10.36290/csf.2014.017

History of the development and production of drugs in the firm Lachema in Brno

Aleš Franc

Veterinární a farmaceutická univerzita Brno, Ústav technologie léků, Brno

Since the 1980 year Lachema Brno was ranked among the leading pharmaceutical companies in Czechoslovakia. Lachema was founded already in 1951 but the modern factory was built around the Research Institute in the 1970s. Although Lachema existed separately, it became the property of Chemapol after privatization. After bankruptcy of Chemapol, Lachema was purchased by the largest Eastern European generic company Pliva. In 2006 Pliva became part of the U.S. generic pharmaceutical company Barr Pharmaceuticals. Finally, in 2008, Barr was acquired by Teva and Lachema was subsequently shut down. Although in the Czech Republic Lachema was almost the monopoly producer of cytostatics and a developer of original drugs, there is no separate mention about it in The History of Pharmacy in the Czech Countries. This paper therefore briefly summarizes the period of its existence, describes the research and production of pharmaceuticals and mentions a few, but not all, key personalities in the development and production of drugs.

Keywords: Lachema; history; research; industry; cytostatics

Received: February 12, 2014; Accepted: March 24, 2014; Published: February 1, 2014  Show citation