Vuorikadun varasto Helsingissä 1941. Keräilijä ja muita työntekijöitä työssään.

Our roots

In the course of its history, Tamro has grown from a late 19th-century chemist’s in Tampere to Finland's leading pharmaceutical wholesaler and a comprehensive health service provider. Tamro is known for its consistently high-quality, cost-effective and forward-looking operations.

Tamro's history dates back to 1895, when four pharmacists – Wolter Aschan, Adolf Fredrik Borg, Karl Molin and Amil Schéele – founded the pharmaceutical wholesaler Drogeri-handelsbolaget i Tammerfors, also known by its Finnish name Tampereen Rohdoskauppayhtiö. The company started manufacturing pharmaceuticals in 1907. Its most famous product was Hota powder.

Pharmaceutical wholesale on a national scale 

By the 1940s Tampereen Rohdoskauppayhtiö had become a national wholesaler. The company was involved in securing the functionality of Finland's pharmaceutical services during the war. In 1941, the company was renamed Tampereen Rohdos Oy.

The quoting of Tampereen Rohdos shares began on the Helsinki Stock Exchange in 1955.

The end of the 1960s witnessed the beginning of a major restructuring of the Finnish pharmaceutical wholesale trade, and the pharmaceutical wholesalers started combining their resources. Tampereen Rohdos and Oy Aurum-Pharmakon Ab, a pharmaceutical company that had been founded in 1911, merged in 1971. The new company was named Oy Tamro Ab.

In 1987, Tamro abandoned the manufacture of medicines and focused on wholesale activities. The company acquired its significant competitor, Lääketukku Oy, in 1988. For a moment, Tamro's share of the Finnish pharmaceutical market was over 70 per cent.

Tamro's new headquarters Tamrotalo in Vantaa was completed in 1991.

Internationalisation begins

In 1992, Tamro and a subsidiary of the Swedish ADA AB started wholesale health care operations in the Baltic countries and St. Petersburg. In the autumn of 1995, Tamro acquired ADA AB, Sweden's leading pharmaceutical wholesaler. As the operations expanded to Norway, nearly 70 per cent of Tamro Group’s turnover came from abroad. Nomecon, Denmark's largest pharmaceutical company, was acquired by Tamro in 1998.

In 2000, PHOENIX Pharmahandel AG & Co, Germany's leading pharmaceutical wholesaler, became Tamro's largest owner. The following year, Tamro expanded into pharmacy operations when Tamro’s Norwegian subsidiary merged with Apokjeden, the leading pharmacy chain in the country. Tamro also acquired its first pharmacies in the Baltic countries.

In 2002, Tamro reorganized its operations in Russia and bought a minority stake in the new national pharmaceutical wholesaler ZAO Rosta.

In 2004, Tamro became wholly affiliated to PHOENIX Pharmahandel AG & Co. Tamro Corporation's share was removed from the main list of the Helsinki Stock Exchange.

Tamro continued expanding internationally. Tamro started operating in Poland in 2005. In 2008, Tamro was operating in eight countries and, through a minority interest, also in Russia. Tamro was the leading pharmaceutical wholesaler in the Nordic countries and actively sought to expand into pharmacy operations in countries where it was legally possible.

Pharmac Finland, a venture jointly owned by Tamro and pharmacists, was founded in 2008.

In 2010, the Tamro Group adopted and implemented a Code of Conduct, and Tamro started reporting on its corporate responsibility. The first corporate responsibility report was published in May 2010. In the same year, the Tamro Group sold its minority stake in the Russian medicine wholesaler ZAO Rosta.

Comprehensive service provider

Tamro Group, the leading pharmaceutical wholesaler in the Nordic countries with operations in eight countries, was dissolved in 2012. Tamro Corporation started reporting directly to the PHOENIX group. The Tampere logistics centre expansion of Tamro Finland was completed in the same year.

By the end of the 2010s, by capturing new business areas, Tamro became a comprehensive service provider. In 2017, Tamro acquired Medaffcon, a research and consulting service company. Some years later, Tamro launched new care technology operations aimed at providing support for a good and safe life at home and in nursing homes. Olo-apteekki, a company which develops the pharmacy of the future, started its operations in 2019. The pharmacy chain was owned not only by Tamro but also by pharmacists and Finland’s leading private healthcare service provider Terveystalo.