Organon Launches as New Women’s Health Company
June 3, 2021 2:00 pm EDT
BRUSSELS – Organon (NYSE: OGN), today celebrates its launch as the only global company of its size focused on women’s health. The well-known name Organon is back. This is good news for women around the world and good news for the production of medicines in the Netherlands and Belgium – where the global healthcare company has two production sites and two office locations.
“Today we are not only launching a new company, today we are launching a commitment to the health of women worldwide. A commitment to listen to women, to understand ‘her’ health needs and help identify solutions that are urgently needed”, according to Petra Willems, who has been appointed Managing Director Organon Benelux. “It’s a unique opportunity to build a new company that intends to be leading in women’s health, to address the needs and conditions that only or disproportionately impact women. Providing a healthier future for women also means providing a healthier future for their families and the communities they are part of around the world.”
Organon started as a pharmaceutical company almost a hundred years ago. The roots in the birthplace Oss are still there, but the new Organon is different: no other large global healthcare company has the health of women as its primary therapeutic area of focus. Petra: “Improving women’s health is critical to achieving a healthier world. Women make up more than half of the world’s population. As a new company, we will begin by listening to women’s healthcare needs to drive our product development – to create and deliver new solutions. Our impact will extend beyond medicines and reproductive health. Because we know there is so much more we can do for women and their health.”
Prof. Dr. Angela Maas (cardiologist and professor of Cardiology for Women, Radboud UMC): “Look at the life-course of women. Every phase has its own needs that are important for women’s health and they are often connected to each other. Good health for women also affects their children, family members, parents, and colleagues at work. Good health is needed to engage in work and to gain more economic independency. Healthy women are the basis for a more equal and better life for all of us.”
“Our legacy for the next generation of girls and women is that every girl, every woman has the right to access good quality healthcare throughout her lifetime”, says Prof. Dr. Marleen Temmerman, currently Chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Aga Khan University Hospital in Nairobi, Kenya. “So many women and girls dying every day of preventable complications of pregnancy is just unacceptable. This is a priority.”
2,000 Organon Benelux employees at four locations
Today, the Organon executive leadership team rings the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) to mark the first day of active trading. At launch, Organon’s portfolio will consist of more than 60 medicines serving people in more than 140 countries, with nearly 80 percent of its 6.5 billion dollar in revenue generated outside the U.S. Organon has three core pillars that will benefit from renewed management focus and commercial investment: Women’s Health, Biosimilars and Established Brands. Petra: “The diversity of this portfolio will ensure moderate, sustainable growth, so that – together with our partners – we can continue to invest and progress with new medicines and solutions so urgently needed for women. We will serve as a global incubator – of ideas, of science and technology, of collaboration – to actualize innovation and, together with our partners, reshape women’s health.”
From the start today, Organon Benelux delivers important therapies across the world, with a substantial international commercial footprint and world-class production facilities for the global market. Of its approximately 9,000 employees worldwide, around 2,000 work either at one of the trusted production sites in Oss (NL) and Heist-op-den-Berg (Belgium) or in the Benelux commercial offices in Amsterdam and Brussels. Organon’s commitment to improving women’s health is also evident from the number of female leaders in the company. The representation of women on our Board — comprising 70% of positions — is higher than any S&P 500 healthcare company
Petra Willems is an experienced business leader with a long and successful 30-year track record in MSD across many therapeutic areas. Over the years she has held various roles with increasing responsibilities. The last ten years she has been part of the Human Health Management Team of MSD in The Netherlands, serving in five different Director roles, among others as Director Primary Care, Director Immunology & Vaccines and Director External Affairs.
About her appointment, Petra says: “It is a unique opportunity to be able to build a new company with a culture characterized by entrepreneurship, empowerment and inclusiveness. I am very much looking forward to working together with an inspired, driven and effective team in Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg for a successful and bright future, for both Organon and women around the world.”