This paper is an account of Syntex, a pharmaceutical research and manufacturing company that offers an intriguing example of the rewards and pitfalls of the international drug industry. Throughout the 50 years of its history, Syntex laid important groundwork for the development of the birth control pill and led the industry in the development of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), culminating in the development of naproxen and anaproxen, the largest-selling NSAIDs in the world. Preferring to promote from within, the company managed to produce consistent research and development successes that kept public focus away from the individuals responsible for these successes. By the late 1980s, the company had become successful enough to be a tempting target for takeover, protected principally by its foreign status and the impending expiration of key patents. When Syntex was finally bought out by the older, larger Hoffman-LaRoche corporation, it had demonstrated the best and worst about the workings of the industry as a whole.
Syntex was founded in Mexico City in 1944, synthesizing progesterone compounds from the roots of vines growing in the Mexican jungle. The name join the concepts of chemical synthesis ("synt") and Mexico ("ex"). The company's first president was Dr. George Rosenkranz, a Hungarian-born chemist. Within its first few years, Syntex had managed to synthesize testosterone, estrogen, and norethindrone, three key hormones, and had begun to market Synovex, a veterinary growth protomutant for cattle, through the U.S.-based pharmaceutical company E.R. Squibb.
In 1957, the company transferred to Panama, where it was legally incorporated as a Panamanian company. Although Syntex did not base its primary operations in that country, Panama's liberal corporate laws allowed the company a flexibility and independence that accounted for much of its success. In 1958, Syntex became a publicly traded corporation.
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