Knut Sogner sets out an ambitious goal with this book. The book is a compelling exploration of how a small Norwegian company became a pioneer in the pharmaceutical industry.

In this book, Sogner combines national limitations with possibilities in science and innovation in a broader context. Both neighboring countries and a large international system of pharmaceutical developments contribute to the book’s relevance beyond Norwegian readers. This is the story of a small business in Norway and how it developed into a successful research-based company taking an international leap with an innovative and unique pharmaceutical product—a nearly impossible task to achieve considering the challenges the company faced when it started its initiative.

Sogner illustrates the complexity of innovative thinking, political ideologies, and risk assessment within the company, as well as within the national context. Sogner demonstrates how a small company’s success in an international industry is driven by economic growth and technological advancements with limited access to sufficient resources. The book also takes into consideration the differences among the Nordic countries in supporting the development and success of the pharmaceutical industry. Despite similarities in health policy, well-being, and a unique development of a welfare society, the Nordic countries followed different paths on crucial issues.

The cooperation between the Scandinavian countries in successfully developing pharmaceutical products is an interesting story for those unfamiliar with this part of medical history. Developments of radiologists as a unique profession within the community of physicians in Sweden seem to have played an important role in the success of the Norwegian company Nyegaard, emphasizing the impact of the interplay between the medical profession, research, and private company initiative in entrepreneurial developments. This is summed up in a brilliant way by one of the historical sources used by Sogner: “One must hope that this development work […] will be a step toward better and less dangerous X-ray contrast media. In accordance with researchers in the field of contrast media, it is also my hope that the increased interest in active research in this area […] from academic and clinical scientists will continue” (98).

Part of the book is occupied with the Norwegian context in building a modern and healthy welfare state, showing the importance and effect of the Evang system. Medical Director Karl Evang had a major impact on the development of modern health and medical policy in Norway, and his effort to increase the professionalism, especially among physicians, in this development has had a major impact on Norwegian healthcare to this day. It is, nevertheless, interesting to follow his ideological ideas into the path of the pharmaceutical industry and medical supply development, as shown by Sogner in this book. However, the book also reveals how the Norwegian system came short in regard to ethical and scientific standards within the regulatory system developed by Evang. Despite this, the financial support coming from the Norwegian state took some of the risk away for the company in the process of launching its own products internationally, emphasizing the need to adhere to both national and international collaboration in setting up a successful business in a small country such as Norway.

The book is first and foremost an insight into the growth of a national pharmaceutical company, framed by national policy and medical knowledge. However, the book also enables the reader to get insight into the business world and the challenges, strategies, and economic advantages in an internationally competitive world of mergers and stock markets. The book balances between being relevant for an audience within medical and health history and business history. I find that Sogner, through the different chapters of the book, seems to successfully balance these two broad trajectories, although some chapters will have more of a medical/health focus, and some chapters will have more of a business focus. Especially toward the end, the book seems to make a shift toward a more business-only focus, maybe saying something about the shift of focus within the company itself after several mergers and adapting to the international demands for growth and outcome.

If there is any small critique to be made, it must be that sometimes the book becomes a bit technical to read for people with limited knowledge within the field. While I understand the importance of explaining relevant medical and pharmaceutical issues to the audience, some sections delve into such details and specifications that seem unnecessary in the broader picture. Despite this, the book draws on a wide range of relevant sources, where the Nycomed archive constitutes the largest, is well written, and the flow of the text successfully integrates the balance of various historical fields, making it a holistic and cohesive read.