Original synthesis to sit alongside the encyclopedia article below. Not part of Wikipedia; verify facts on Wikipedia when precision matters.
Fresenius (officially Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA) is a multinational healthcare conglomerate headquartered in Bad Homburg vor der Höhe, Germany, with core operations focused on renal care, acute hospital services, and specialized medical and pharmaceutical supplies. It is one of the largest publicly traded healthcare firms in Europe, serving patients in more than 100 countries globally.
Key moments
1462Origins trace to the opening of a family-owned pharmacy in Frankfurt am Main, the earliest documented root of the Fresenius business lineage
1912Eduard Fresenius formally establishes the industrial company to manufacture custom laboratory and pharmaceutical products
1966The company releases its first mass-produced dialysis machine, cementing its long-term focus on renal care for patients with kidney failure
1996Fresenius Medical Care, the group's dedicated dialysis division, is listed on public stock exchanges as a majority-controlled subsidiary
2007Fresenius consolidates its acquired acute hospital assets to launch the Fresenius Helios division, becoming one of the largest private hospital operators in Europe
2022Group leadership announces a multi-year restructuring plan to divest non-core assets and prioritize high-growth chronic care segments
Fresenius operates across three tightly integrated healthcare sub-sectors, positioning it differently from specialized peers that only operate in one vertical. Its unmatched global scale in dialysis creates inherent cost advantages that smaller renal product manufacturers and clinic operators cannot easily match, while its European hospital care network benefits from long-term public sector contracts that insulate it from short-term private payer volatility in high-risk markets like the United States.
Core peer set includes large diversified medtech firms such as Baxter International, dedicated standalone dialysis providers like DaVita, and regional European public hospital operators
A key competitive moat is its end-to-end dialysis ecosystem that sells consumables, equipment, and outpatient care services, creating locked-in recurring revenue from both public and private payers and clinical providers
Primary competitive vulnerabilities include regulatory risk around dialysis reimbursement rate adjustments in the U.S. and EU, and margin pressure from generic entry for common renal care drugs and therapies
Recent strategic moves to divest low-margin consulting and non-core lab service assets are intended to refocus operations to compete more effectively against leaner, specialized medtech startups targeting chronic care niches
products
infusion pumps, medication, hospitals, medical care
services
Dialysis
revenue
€22.3 billion (2023)‡R1R‡
operating income
€2.26 billion (2023)‡R1R‡
net income
€1.51 billion (2023)‡R1R‡
assets
€45.3 billion (2023)‡R1R‡
equity
€19.7 billion (2023)‡R1R‡
num employees
193,865 (2023)‡R1R‡
owner
Else Kröner-Fresenius Foundation (26.6%)
homepage
https://www.fresenius.com/
Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA is a German multinationalhealth care company based in Bad Homburg vor der Höhe.It provides products and services for dialysis in hospitals, as well as inpatient and outpatient medical care. The company is involved in hospital management and in engineering and services for medical centers and other health care facilities. The company was ranked 411th in the 2023 Forbes Global 2000 list.[2]
Operations
There are four divisions:
Fresenius Medical Care, a publicly traded company of which Fresenius owns 30.8%, focuses on patients with chronic kidney failure.[3] With its North American headquarters in Waltham, Massachusetts, it holds a 38% market share in the dialysis market in the United States.
Fresenius Helios is the largest hospital operator and provider of inpatient and outpatient services in Germany. The Helios Kliniken has more than 110 hospitals and more than 30,000 beds, treating over 4 million patients annually.
Fresenius Kabi is a supplier of essential drugs, clinical nutrition products, and medical devices. It produces generic versions of intravenousoncology products, such as Paclitaxel, Irinotecan, Oxaliplatin, Gemcitabine, Cytarabine, Carboplatin, Topotecan, Docetaxel, and Epirubicin.
Fresenius Vamed develops and manages health care facilities.
The company was founded by Eduard Fresenius in 1912.[4] Fresenius died in 1946.His foster-daughter and protégée, Else Kröner, inherited the company after completing pharmacy school. Kröner rescued the company from significant debts by laying off the majority of staff and restructuring the business. Kröner died in 1988. Kröner's will left all of her assets to the Else Kröner-Fresenius Foundation for medical research funding.[5]
In 1966, the company began to sell dialysis machines.In 1982, the company converted to a joint stock company.In 1983, the company began producing polysulfone fiber membranes.In 1986, it became a public company, listing shares on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.[4]
In 1996, the company merged its dialysis business into National Medical Care to form Fresenius Medical Care
Controversies
Concerns of use of hydroxyethyl starch and threats against researcher
In 2012, a paper was published raising concerns regarding the use of hydroxyethyl starch in sepsis.[26] Fresenius Kabi, which makes the product, threatened legal action against the main author, Danish scientist Anders Perner.[27]
Quality issues
A January 2013 investigation by the United States Food and Drug Administration revealed widespread fraud in Fresenius' quality control testing at its manufacturing plant in Kalyani, West Bengal.Claiming that it was unaware of the lab's wrongdoing, Fresenius executives responded by halting production, firing the plant managers, and recalling the affected medications.[28] In 2015, Fresenius Kabi pleaded guilty to breaches of United Kingdom's
Further reading
Kamp, Michael / Neumann, Florian: Fresenius – 100 Years. Munich: August Dreesbach Verlag, 2012. ISBN 978-3-940061-84-3.
HUMAINE operates six acute and post acute care hospitals in the fields of neurology, oncology and traumatology.
On 16 July 2007 the company completed its conversion from an Aktiengesellschaft (AG - German public limited company) to a Societas Europaea, the European Union-wide equivalent.[9] The company changed its legal status once again on 28 January 2011, becoming a Kommanditgesellschaft auf Aktien (KGaA - German partnership limited by shares) with a Societas Europaea as a partner with unlimited liability (SE & Co. KGaA).[10]
In August 2008, Fresenius Kabi acquired 73.3% of Dabur Pharma of India.[11] The following month, it also acquired APP Pharmaceuticals, Inc.[12] In October 2011, the company agreed to acquire 51% of the share capital in Katholisches Klinikum Duisburg hospital.[13] Also in October 2011, Helios Kliniken acquired 94.7% of the share capital in Damp Group.[14] In September 2013, Fresenius acquired 41 hospitals from Rhön-Klinikum for €3.07 billion.[15][16] In 2014, Fresenius sold its 5% stake in Rhön-Klinikum.[17]
In November 2014, the company announced that its Russian partners, Sistema and Zenitco Finance Management, agreed to terminate their joint venture agreement that had been established in April 2014.The termination was prompted by changing political and regulatory circumstances in the region.[18]
In January 2016, Fresenius Kabi announced that it would acquire Becton Dickinson's prescription drug business.[19] In February 2016, Fresenius Helios acquired the municipal hospital in Velbert, North Rhine-Westphalia.[20] In January 2017, Fresenius acquired the largest Spanish hospital group, the Grupo Hospitalario Quirónsalud for €5.76 billion and merged it into the Helios Group, establishing the biggest hospital group of Europe.[21] In September 2017, Fresenius Kabi acquired Merck KGaA's biosimilars business.[22] In February 2019, Fresenius Medical Care acquired NxStage, a US-based maker of in-home dialysis devices, for $2 billion.[23][24] In March 2022, Fresenius joined InterWell Health and Cricket Health to form a new InterWell Health brand focused on services for the earlier stages of kidney disease.[25]
Medicines Act 1968
and was fined
£
500,000 by the
Sheffield Crown Court
for supplying faulty
insulin
syringes containing no insulin, leading to the death of Neil Judge from
In 2019, the company paid $231 million to the United States Department of Justice to settle allegations of civil bribery to obtain business in Angola, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, and Spain.[31]
In January 2020, the Süddeutsche Zeitung reported on tricks used by the health care group Fresenius, according to a case study by the Steuerjustigkeit network.[32] The study shows that it is by no means just US digital groups that are shifting their profits to low-tax countries and that Fresenius is trying to reduce the tax burden by legal means with the help of branches in so-called tax havens and subsidiaries.Tax avoidance is not a prohibited tax evasion.[33]
2022 Russian invasion in Ukraine
In response to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Fresenius Medical Care continued its operations in Russia.Despite global calls for businesses to cease operations in Russia, the company has not made any official statements regarding changes to its business activities in the country.[34][35]
26.Anders Perner, Nicolai Haase, Anne B. Guttormsen, Jyrki Tenhunen, Gudmundur Klemenzson, Anders Åneman, Kristian R. Madsen, Morten H. Møller. Hydroxyethyl starch 130/0.42 versus Ringer's acetate in severe sepsis. The New England Journal of Medicine, July 12, 2012^
