Alvogen facts for kids
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| private | |
| Founded | 2009 |
| Founder | Róbert Wessman |
| Headquarters | Pine Brook, New Jersey |
| Revenue |  $1.1 billion (2017) |
| Owners | CVC Capital Partners and Temasek Holdings |
|
Number of employees
|
2800 |
Alvogen is a company from the United States that makes medicines. It started in 2009. Since 2015, two big investment groups, CVC Capital Partners and Temasek Holdings, have owned most of the company. Alvogen specializes in making generic medicines that are often hard to produce. They also make injectable medicines. The company both creates its own products and sells medicines from other well-known pharmaceutical companies.
Contents
How Alvogen Started and Grew
The Beginning of Alvogen
Alvogen was founded by Róbert Wessman, an entrepreneur from Iceland. He had previously been the CEO of another medicine company called Actavis. He left that role to start Alvogen.
Early Growth and Key Purchases
One of the first and most important parts of Alvogen was Norwich Pharmaceuticals. This company was already 130 years old and had a large, certified factory for making medicines. Róbert Wessman and his investors bought Norwich Pharmaceuticals.
From the early to mid-2010s, Alvogen grew very quickly. They bought many other companies and their medicine collections. For example, in Central and Eastern Europe, they bought a company called Labormed in Romania.
Expanding into Asia
In East Asia, Alvogen bought two companies in South Korea: Kunwha and DreamPharma. They then ran these companies under the name of Lotus Pharmaceuticals. Lotus Pharmaceuticals is a company in Taiwan that Alvogen bought in 2014. It is listed on the Taipei Stock Exchange.
Growing in the United States
In 2016, Alvogen also expanded its business in the United States. They did this by buying a company called County Line Pharmaceuticals. The story of how Alvogen grew so much was even studied by Harvard Business School in 2018.
Alvogen's Size and Changes
By 2017, Alvogen was valued at $4 billion. It had 2,800 employees working in 35 different countries. Starting in 2019, Alvogen began to sell off some of its international businesses. Some of these parts had grown so big they became their own companies. Alvogen decided to focus more on its operations in the United States.
For example, Alvogen's businesses in Central and Eastern Europe were sold to a company called Zentiva in 2019. In 2021, Lotus Pharmaceuticals became a separate company. It was bought by a group that included Innobic and Róbert Wessman's own investment fund, Aztiq. This group also bought Adalvo, which was Alvogen's business that licensed medicines to other companies. As of early 2025, Róbert Wessman was the chairman of Alvogen, Lotus, and Adalvo.
Alvogen and Alvotech
Alvogen was also the first investor in Alvotech. This company was founded by Róbert Wessman in 2013. Alvotech focuses on researching and making biosimilars. Biosimilars are medicines that are very similar to existing biological medicines. Alvotech is based in Reykjavik, Iceland. It has research and production sites in Europe and India. Alvotech's shares are traded on Nasdaq. As of early 2025, Alvotech has several products approved for use in the US and Europe. They sell their products globally through partnerships with other companies.
What Medicines Alvogen Makes
Alvogen's website shows many products they offer in the US market. They are good at making medicines that are difficult to produce. They also specialize in medicines that are given as injections or inhaled. Their business for injectable medicines is called Almaject.
