| Alvogen | |
| Foundation: | 2009 |
| Location: | Pine Brook, New Jersey[1] |
| Founder: | Róbert Wessman |
| Owners: | CVC Capital Partners and Temasek Holdings |
| Type: | private |
| Revenue: | $1.1 billion (2017) |
| Num Employees: | 2800 |
Alvogen is an Icelandic pharmaceutical company founded in 2009. In 2014, a controlling stake in the company was acquired by CVC Capital Partners and Temasek Holdings. Alvogen has about 350 different medical and non-medical products, and both produces its own products and markets the products of brand name pharmaceutical companies.
Its sister company Alvotech produces biosimilars.
Alvogen was founded in 2009 by Robert Wessman, who stepped down from his position as CEO of Actavis in order to found the company.[2] [3] [4] Soon after its founding it had 200 products in development.[5] Since 2012, Alvogen has acquired three different companies in Taiwan and South Korea (Alvogen Korea), where it operates as Lotus Pharmaceuticals (which Alvogen purchased in 2014 for $200 million) and is listed on Taipei Stock Exchange (1795.TT).[6] In 2015, Alvogen acquired DreamPharma for $187 million.[7] It is also the parent company of Norwich Pharmaceuticals, which does the firm's manufacturing.[8]
In 2015, a controlling interest in Alvogen was acquired by CVC Capital Partners and the Singapore sovereign fund Temasek. As of 2017, the company had 2800 employees spread over thirty-five countries. In 2016, Alvogen also acquired the US company County Line Pharmaceuticals for $300 million.[9] In 2017, Alvogen was valued at $4 billion.[10]
Alvogen markets 350 different products including generic drugs, branded medicines, biosimilar products, cosmetics, and food supplements, for areas including oncology, cardiology, pulmonology, and neurology. Much of its products for European markets are manufactured at a factory in Romania, and packaged in Serbia. Companies that market their products through Alvogen or have sold their generic drugs to Alvogen for sale include Bayer,[11] Mylan,[12] Natco,[13] and Pfizer.[14]
In 2017, Alvogen partnered with Vivus to provide the anti-obesity drug phentermine/topiramate to the South Korean market[15] [16] and partnered with Omega Bittner to provide products in the Russian market.[17] In 2017, Alvogen also became the first company to bring a generic oseltamivir[18] to the US market.[19] That year, Alvogen had 75 additional products under review with the FDA for approval for sale in the US market.[20]
Alvotech is a sister company[21] of Alvogen that researches and manufactures biosimilars. It was founded in 2013 by Alvogen founder Robert Wessman. Alvotech is based out of Iceland, and it has four research and production sites across Europe.[22] It is listed on Nasdaq[23] and had a market cap of 3.5 billion USD in 2023.[24]
Its first product, an adalimumab biosimilar, received marketing authorization in 2021,[25] and its second product, an ustekinumab biosimilar, in 2023.[26] Products under development include biosimilars of omalizumab, denosumab, golimumab, aflibercept, vedolizumab, and pembrolizumab.[27]
In November 2022, Alvogen and a former executive settled a dispute over allegations of bullying made the previous year.[28]
In September 2021, Swedish doctor Essam Mansour, who invested $500,000 in Alvogen in 2009, accused Robert Wessman as the CEO of Alvogen of excluding him from participation in the company and of presenting his views at company meetings without his authorisation. Wessman denied doing so.[29]