Eva Paulsen

"Frederik and Eva Paulsen were pioneers in developing and selling drugs based on peptide hormones, which are small proteins secreted into the bloodstream from the pituitary gland. Eva Paulsen had experience in the field through previous research assignments. She had experimented with peptide hormones during her time at Pharmacia and Organon in Stockholm. Frederik and Eva Paulsen were convinced that the natural origin of peptide hormones could provide a more suitable basis for drug development than the steroids other companies were working with in the 1950s. They acquired a house in Malmö where they established a research department. In 1961, the research team made a major breakthrough when they learned to produce the peptide hormones vasopressin, also called antidiuretic hormone (ADH), and oxytocin synthetically and on an industrial scale. Ferring was one of the first companies in the world to succeed in this. The pharmaceutical company intended to treat diabetes insipidus (DI), not diabetes mellitus, which is commonly referred to as sugar sickness. DI increases urine production, which can lead to dehydration and pose a life-threatening risk if not treated. The synthetically manufactured drugs had fewer side effects, and the company was no longer dependent on the supply of pig pituitaries. After nearly seven decades, it has proven that the investment was right. To this day, peptide hormones are used in several of Ferring’s drugs."

"During Frederik and Eva Paulsen’s time with the company, the business was established. Ferring developed, produced, and sold pharmaceuticals independently. Foreign expansion had begun, partly because Frederik Paulsen wanted to protect the family business from the Swedish state. The heavy tax burden and the ongoing discussion about nationalizing the pharmaceutical industry risked destroying everything the Paulsen family had built up. Frederik Paulsen was active in Ferring for nearly three decades, although he began to reduce his involvement with the company after his 60th birthday in 1969. During the 1970s, he gradually handed over responsibility to the then management. When Frederik Paulsen Jr joined Ferring in 1976, it opened the door for a possible generational shift, but from the start, it was not certain that it would be the youngest of six siblings who would take over Ferring. Neither for Frederik Paulsen Senior nor Junior. The founder was skeptical, and the son was reluctant. He expressed this in an interview with Veckans Affärer in 2013: “In the late 1960s when I was 17, my father asked me what I thought he should do with the company in the future. Then I replied: Give it to the employees. It was in the spirit of the times. I wasn’t at all interested in taking over then.”"