The history of Laboratoires OM – renamed OM Pharma in 1998 – is closely linked to the story of its founder Jean-René Ricard and his son Jean-Paul.

Active in the European pharmaceutical industry for many years before World War II, Jean-René Ricard had sensed the imminent upheaval which was about to engulf Europe. Following his intuition he decided to locate his international business in a safe haven and proceeded to open the first offices of Laboratoires OM in Geneva in 1937. Today OM Pharma is a major Geneva pharmaceutical company.

The abbreviation OM refers to the Omnia Medicamenta product line.