The Sartorius Campus is growing.

Lots of cranes at the end of the factory premises indicate the future.

Buildings 27 to 31 will be built there. The site near Autobahn 7 in Göttingen in southern Lower Saxony will be one kilometer long.

Employees who do a round of the campus every day for two weeks are offered the prospect of “exclusive bonuses”.

Sartorius is on the move.

Daniel Mohr

Editor in the economy of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.

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And how.

No listed company in Germany has developed as well as Sartorius in terms of share price over the past ten years.

America has Elon Musk and Tesla.

Germany has Joachim Kreuzburg and Sartorius.

They may not be as colorful as the American electric car pioneer and space flier, but they are very reliable suppliers of positive surprises for their shareholders.

In 2003, Kreuzburg took over the management of the company as a young man from Utz Claassen.

At that time the market value was 94 million euros.

Today it is a good 40 billion euros, more than 400 times as much.

An unusual development, to put it mildly.

Sartorius got into the Dax on Monday.

Erhard's signature weighs 0.852 milligrams

There is a Sartorius before the Kreuzburg era and one after it. In 1870, the precision mechanic Florenz Sartorius began to build precise analytical scales for the research laboratories of the Göttingen professors. In 1876 he was honored for this at the World's Fair in Philadelphia. Economics Minister Ludwig Erhard later tried out the precision of the scales. His signature is estimated to weigh 0.852 milligrams. In addition, the company is making a name for itself with filters. More precisely: with ultra-pure filters that can extract bacteria and viruses.

Technologically, Sartorius was already at the forefront when Joachim Kreuzburg took over the reins. But he sees wasted potential. "At that time we addressed a number of industries, for example the food industry," says Kreuzburg in retrospect. “For Sartorius, however, our technology is most valuable in the area of ​​pharmaceuticals - and not in mineral water.” Kreuzburg continues what Claassen had started with the first acquisitions. The company's focus from now on is the pharmaceutical industry, more precisely the biopharmaceutical industry. The aim is to use living cell cultures to develop drugs against cancer and autoimmune diseases such as diabetes, multiple sclerosis and rheumatism. But also vaccines.The pharmaceutical industry grows cells for this and ultimately wants to find a good active ingredient for an effective drug or vaccine. Sartorius supplies everything companies need for this: vessels in which the cells are grown; Filters with which the “broth” from the vessels can later be cleaned until an ultra-pure active ingredient remains; plus all hoses and measuring devices to monitor and accompany the process of cell development. Bioreactor is the name of the device that connects all parts.to monitor and accompany the process of cell development. Bioreactor is the name of the device that connects all parts.to monitor and accompany the process of cell development. Bioreactor is the name of the device that connects all parts.