Fritz Hoffmann-La Roche

Fritz Hoffmann trained in commerce and banking and worked in the drug trade before setting up his own company in Basel.

Fritz Hoffmann-La Roche (1868-1920) founded F. Hoffmann-La Roche & Co. in Basel on 1 October 1896, at age 28. His idea was to manufacture standardized, branded medicines industrially and sell them internationally rather than rely on pharmacist-compounded remedies. Early products included the thyroid preparation Thyreoglandol, the cough syrup Sirolin and the digitalis extract Digalen. He opened foreign subsidiaries within a few years of founding, giving Roche an international footprint long before most competitors.

Friedrich "Fritz" Hoffmann-La Roche was born on October 24, 1868 and died on April 18, 1920. Fritz Hoffmann-La Roche was born in 1868.