At the end of the 19th century, there were plans to build a residential area here at Hornsberg. However, at that time no one wanted to settle so far away from the city center and close to Kungsholmen's emerging industries. Instead, the area was bought by two large baking companies which together with Stockholms Enskilda Bank (SEB) built a brewery here called Stora Bryggeriet. The brewery was supposed to compete with the large consortium Stockholms Bryggerier in the expanding and lucrative beer market.
The company wanted a superb facility, and the contract was awarded to the German firm Maschinenfabrik Germania in Chemnitz, which carried out the installation of the machinery. The iron structures were likely produced by Ludwigsbergs workshop, possibly according to German blueprints. The German company initially designed the facades in a new Renaissance style, but these were rejected, and the task was given to the Stockholm architect Gustaf Lindgren. He revised the drawings and gave the building the design it has today.
The beer production started in 1892. After several successful years, the brewery marketing became too successful with major delivery problems as a result. In 1910 Stora Bryggeriet went bankrupt and was bought by its main competitor.
In the first half of the 20th century, extensive technological development took place, which affected the Swedish brewing industry. At the same time, competition from foreign companies increased. It was therefore necessary to find forms for a cost-effective large-scale operation. Stockholms Bryggeriet began producing malt extract on a large scale in a newly built malt house and expanded its operations to include by-products of beer production. With this in mind, they acquired a company called Kärnbolaget which produced vitamins.
The central laboratory had begun experiments to make use of the excess B-vitamin-rich yeast from brewing. The first product was a cattle feed, Cerval B. The first proprietary medicine for humans was the B vitamin preparation Fervin B, which was based on denatured brewer's yeast. As a follow-up came Fervin BD, which also contained vitamin D. Manufacturing took place here, at Hornsberg. Stockholms Bryggeriet was also experimenting with vitamin C. It was found that the best source of vitamin C was rosehips and they started production of rosehip extract and rosehip powder.
At the beginning of World War II, the first blood centers were organized in Sweden. Availability of blood plasma came into focus, especially dry plasma. Kärnbolaget took an interest in this, based on its experience with drying vitamin C. The Swedish National Board of Health ordered trial drying by the company and in 1941 dry plasma from the Kärnbolaget was tested with good results on humans. The dry plasma came as powder, which was stored in Vichy water bottles. By adding sterile water, the powder was dissolved and could be used for transfusion.
In addition to blood plasma, Stora Bryggeriet took an early interest in penicillin production, as it was believed that there were great synergies between the know-how of beer fermentation and the industrial application of biochemical processes. In 1945, clinical trials could begin with penicillin produced at an experimental facility. In June 1946, a decision was made to build a penicillin factory in Hornsberg. From now on, pharmaceuticals became Kärnbolaget's main focus and penicillin was for a long time one of its main products.
After the end of World War II, the amount of dry plasma bottles in Kärnbolaget's warehouse became excessive. Luckily, an interesting solution emerged. Across the ocean, in Boston, Professor Edwin Cohn had devised a method to isolate the proteins Albumin and Gamma globulin from blood plasma on a large scale. Kärnbolaget learnt about this work and saw it as an opportunity to utilize the dry plasma. They hired a young engineer, Henrik Björling, who, after studying with Cohn, had to set up one of Europe's first plasma fractionation plants in Hornsberg. He adapted Cohn's method to the dry plasma and introduced chromatographic purification methods that increased the yield. In 1949, the first drug was produced from blood plasma, Albumin, which was followed a year later by Gamma globulin.
When Kärnbolaget became internationally active in the early 1950s, the name was changed to Kabi (Kärnbolaget Aktiebolaget Biokemisk Industri). In addition to blood plasma drugs and penicillin, Kabi produced a wide range of both over-the-counter and prescription drugs.
Kärnbolaget/Kabi was owned by Stockholms Bryggerier, later Pripps, until 1969, when the state bought 65% of the shares. Two years later, the rest of the shares were acquired by the state. ACO and Vitrum were brought to the Kabi group and in 1978 the name was changed to KabiVitrum. After the merger with Pharmacia the name became KabiPharmacia, after further mergers the name Pharmacia & Upjohn was adopted and later again Pharmacia.
In 2002, Pharmacia decided to divest part of the research in Stockholm. The blood plasma part was sold to the family company Octapharma, which ran similar operations in several European countries. Today, the plasma business is the only one remaining on the Hornsberg site. Octapharma made significant investments resulting in a substantial increase in production capacity. In 2013-2014, an extensive renovation of the brewery's old machine hall was carried out. The premises were adapted into offices according to the designs by Joliark Architects. A notable feature was the large glass gable facing Lars Forsells gata.
The project was nominated for the Stockholm Building of the Year 2015 and secured third place.
The remaining brick buildings of Stora Bryggeriet are still easy to recognise amongst the modern structures and are marked with a blue label by the Stockholm City Museum, which signifies that the structures are considered to have exceptionally high cultural and historical value.
