How it started
History
In 1929, Dr. Henri Beaufour founded the Beaufour Laboratories in Dreux. The first product marketed was Romarene, a rosemary-based medicine intended for the treatment of digestive disorders, discontinued from the market in 2011.
In the 1950s and 1960s, Laboratoires Beaufour underwent a phase of expansion. In 1954, the group launched betaine citrate, used in the symptomatic treatment of dyspepsia. Henri Beaufour's two sons, Albert and Gérard Beaufour, joined the company. The group opened a factory in Dreux in 1961, and another in L'Isle- sur-la-Sorgue in 1965. A research center opened in Plessis-Robinson the same year.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Laboratoires Beaufour created a subsidiary, Ipsen (1975), and began to internationalize its activities. In 1976, the company opened a research center in Milford (Massachusetts) in the U.S. In 1977, the group launched Smecta (diosmectite clay, a gastrointestinal bandage and anti-diarrhoeal agent).
In 1983, the group created the Fondation Ipsen under the aegis of the Fondation de France, to encourage exchanges between scientists in the field of life sciences.
In 1986, the group launched Decapeptyl, used to treat certain pathologies influenced by sex hormones, such as prostate cancer, endometriosis, uterine fibroids and early puberty.
From Wikipedia’s article on Ipsen, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2