Origin 1908-1929

Origins of our pharmaceutical heritage (1908-1929) 

Two pharmacists, August Kongsted and Anton Antons, bought the LEO Pharmacy in Copenhagen, Denmark, from where they began producing pharmaceutical products.

Although the pharmacy had been known as ‘LEO’ since 1620, the two ambitious chemists registered the name as a trademark in 1909. They already had a logo: a painting by artist Anna Rink inspired by an Assyrian bas-relief sculpture at the Louvre.

In 1910 the firm employed just three people, yet two years later LEO Pharma began marketing its very first product, the painkiller acetylsalicylic acid, which for decades was the most commonly used painkiller in Denmark. In 1914, the company took its first steps abroad and established its first affiliate, AB LEO Helsingborg in Sweden.

With the first exports of Digisolvin LEO in 1917, LEO Pharma helped establish the Danish pharmaceutical industry. It was the first Danish drug to be exported.

Shortly afterwards, LEO Pharma funded ground-breaking research by August Krogh and H.C. Hagedorn to develop the first batches of insulin in Denmark.

When Anton Antons died in a road accident in 1920, work continued under the ownership of August Kongsted.