How 100-year-old firm went from Hull to Hollywood
From humble beginnings in a disused waterworks in rural East Yorkshire, Croda International has grown into a FTSE 100 company. Now, as it celebrates its centenary, staff are reviewing the company’s role in developing treatments for a rare degenerative condition affecting young men; This story is retold in a Hollywood movie.
Two streets of a housing estate in Hull commemorate the story of an American boy who suffered from a serious brain disease.
In 1984, Lorenzo Odone was diagnosed with adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD), and doctors predicted he would not survive childhood.
Within a year, children with this condition may become paralyzed, blind, and unable to speak.
But his family refused to accept that this was the end and worked tirelessly to find a treatment that would cure and extend Lorenzo’s life.
Today, Lorenzo’s Way and Suddaby Close in east Hull are testament to their efforts, depicted in the 1992 film Lorenzo’s Oil, starring Nick Nolte and Susan Sarandon.
So how did the city get involved?
Although Lorenzo’s father, Augusto, had no formal scientific training, he studied medicine and biochemistry and developed a potential treatment for ALD using acids from olive and rapeseed oil.
Augusto and Michaela Odone on the set of Lorenzo’s Oil [Getty Images]
The Odons approached Croda, who had large manufacturing facilities in Hull, and chemist Don Suddaby, who were persuaded to distill the formula. It became known as Lorenzo’s oil.
Mr. Suddaby, who portrayed himself in the film, died a year after its release.
Keith Layden was working at Croda at the time and is now a non-executive director.
“We were approached by a man named Augusto Odone, Lorenzo’s father, who gave the product its name,” he recalls.
“And he came to us with an idea, a hypothesis, and he needed some chemistry.
“Fortunately, this request made its way to the desk of a gentleman named Keith Coupland, who was the technical director of the facility, and Keith, in typical Croda spirit, very enterprising, very creative, very innovative, said, yes, we’ll give it a try. That looks interesting.”
Mr Coupland contacted Mr Suddaby, who was nearing retirement but agreed to take on the role.
“From that relationship came Lorenzo’s oil,” Mr. Layden adds. “So let’s give it a try and see where it goes, it eventually took us from Hull to Hollywood.”
Cowick Hall, headquarters of Croda International [BBC]
Croda was founded in 1925 when George Crowe and Henry Dawe began producing lanolin, a waxy substance made from sheep wool.
Their first home was a disused waterworks at Rawcliffe Bridge near Goole.
They soon expanded into other products and moved their headquarters to Cowick Hall, a stately home in nearby East Cowick.
Today, the house is flanked by new laboratories and office buildings, but it is still surrounded by acres of green parkland.
Today’s business produces ingredients for skin care, pharmaceuticals, home care and agricultural products.
At the bottom of the grand staircase, head of consumer services Sandra Breene argues that many people “won’t go a day without using a product that has some Croda ingredients in it.”
When Croda began developing Lorenzo’s oil, it was supplying products to various industries but did not have a healthcare or pharmaceutical division.
“It wasn’t an area we had worked in before,” Mr. Layden says.
“We started thinking about how our materials could be used in such areas.
“There was great enthusiasm at Croda with the release of the film. We decided to establish a healthcare division of Croda in 1997 and this has become a very important part of our business over the last 30 years.
“We had some significant successes a few years ago during the Covid pandemic, where we were an integral part of the production and manufacturing of the first MRNA-based vaccine, benefiting hundreds of millions of people.”
Ms Breene, a graduate of the University of Hull, said she was saddened to hear that the institution had made this decision. close the chemistry department.
“We need to ensure that our universities continue to provide us with a flow of young people coming into the sector,” he added.
Lorenzo Odone died in 2008, after living 20 years longer than expected.
From the very beginning, questions were raised about the effectiveness of Lorenzo oil on patients who already had the disease.
Scientific studies have shown that this does not work in people who are already sick, but appeared to help prevent disease in those whose genes make them susceptible to developing symptoms.
British leukodystrophy charity Alex TLC says: available evidence shows Lorenzo’s oil is not a proven preventative, but may be beneficial for boys with asymptomatic ALD.
The treatment is still produced today.
“Fortunately, this is a very rare disease,” says Mr Layden. “So this was never going to be a commercially attractive proposition for Croda, but we did it because we thought it was the right thing to do.
“As a FTSE 100 company we focus a lot on financial metrics.
“But as employees, you need more than that. You need more purpose.”
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