[Lauritz Toft and DUMEX--the man, the idea and the way to its realization]

Lauritz Toft (1920-1991), also known as Lau, graduated with a MSc degree in pharmacy at the Royal Danish School of Pharmacy in 1944. During the education and parallel activities Lau had shown gifts for intuition and improvisation, together with special talents for leadership and large-scale working. In 1945 he got the idea during the organization of the East Asiatic Company Ltd. to sell the best of the products from the Danish pharmaceutical companies in India under a common trade mark: DUMEX (Danish United Medical Export). The article describes Lau's difficulties and problems in realizing this idea. The adventure peaks in the mid-1950's with about 40 pharmacists in DUMEX-departments in India as well as Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, China etc.