Industry | Pharmaceutical |
---|---|
Founded | 1830 |
Founder | John K. Smith |
Defunct | 1989 |
Fate | Merged with The Beecham Group plc to form SmithKline Beecham |
Successor | SmithKline Beecham (1989–2000) GlaxoSmithKline (2000–2022) GSK plc (2022–Present) |
Smith, Kline & French (SKF) was an American pharmaceutical company that is now a part of the British group GSK plc.
In 1830, John K. Smith opened a drugstore in Philadelphia, and his younger brother, George, joined him in 1841 to form John K Smith & Co. In 1865, Mahlon Kline joined the company, as a bookkeeper. In 1875, he took on additional responsibilities as a salesman and added many new and large accounts, as a reward the company, Mahlon K Smith and Company, was renamed into Smith, Kline and Company. [1]
In 1891, Smith, Kline and Company acquired French, Richards and Company, founded in 1844 by Clayton French and William Richards, which provided the company with a greater portfolio of consumer brands. The combined business became the Smith, Kline and French Company. [1]
In 1932, SKF chemist Gordon Alles was awarded a patent for amphetamine. [1]
In 1968, the company acquired Recherche et Industrie Thérapeutiques in Belgium. [2]
SmithKline acquired Allergan in 1982, an eye and skincare business, and merged with Beckman Instruments, Inc., a company specialising in diagnostics and measurement instruments and supplies. After the merger the company was renamed SmithKline Beckman. [1]
SmithKline Beckman and Beecham Group merged in 1989 to form SmithKline Beecham plc. In 2000, SmithKline Beecham merged with Glaxo Wellcome to form GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). [3]
Ribena is a brand of blackcurrant-based soft drink, and fruit drink concentrate designed to be mixed with water. It is available in bottles, cans and multi-packs. Originally of English origin, it was produced by the pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) until 2013, when the brand was sold to Japanese beverage conglomerate Suntory.
GSK plc is a British multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company with headquarters in London. It was established in 2000 by a merger of Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham, which was itself a merger of a number of pharmaceutical companies around the Smith, Kline & French firm.
Horlicks is a British sweet malted milk hot drink powder developed by founders James and William Horlick. It was first sold as "Horlick's Infant and Invalids Food", soon adding "aged and travellers" to their label. In the early 20th century, it was sold as a powdered meal replacement drink mix.
The Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 Index, also called the FTSE 100 Index, FTSE 100, FTSE, or, informally, the "Footsie", is the United Kingdom's best-known stock market index of the 100 most highly capitalised blue chips listed on the London Stock Exchange.
Lucozade is a British brand of soft drinks and energy drinks manufactured and marketed by the Japanese company Suntory. Created as "Glucozade" in the UK in 1927 by a Newcastle pharmacist, William Walker Hunter, it was acquired by the British pharmaceutical company Beecham's in 1938 and sold as Lucozade, an energy drink for the sick. Its advertising slogan was "Lucozade aids recovery". It was sold mostly in pharmacies up until the 1980s before it was more readily available as a sports drink in shops across the UK.
Beckman Coulter, Inc. is a Danaher Corporation company that develops, manufactures, and markets products relevant to biomedical testing. It operates in the industries of diagnostics and life sciences. The company was established in 1935 as National Technical Laboratories, and has become an international company through growth and acquisitions of other life sciences organizations.
Human Genome Sciences (HGS) was a biopharmaceutical corporation founded in 1992 by Craig Venter, Alan Walton and Wally Steinberg. It uses the human DNA sequence to develop protein and antibody drugs. It had drugs under development to treat such diseases as hepatitis C, systemic lupus erythmatosis, anthrax, and cancer. It collaborated with other biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies for development partnerships and licensing.
Dyclonine (Dyclocaine) is an oral anaesthetic that is the active ingredient of Sucrets, an over-the-counter throat lozenge. It is also found in some varieties of the Cepacol sore throat spray. It is a local anesthetic, used topically as the hydrochloride salt.
Recherche et Industrie Thérapeutiques (R.I.T.) was founded in Genval, Belgium, as a penicillin factory in 1945 by Dr Pieter De Somer, who later became the founder of the Rega Institute for Medical Research and rector of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. The industrialist Jean Lannoye provided the funding for the company. The company started its vaccine research and production in the 1950s. The present CEO of the company is Roger Connor.
The Beecham Group plc was a British pharmaceutical company. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. Founded by Thomas Beecham who opened the first factory in St Helens, Lancashire in 1859, Beecham focused on marketing the business by advertising in newspapers and using a network of wholesale agents in northern England and in London, rapidly building up the business. In August 1859 he created the slogan for Beecham's Pills: "Worth a guinea a box", considered to be the world's first advertising slogan, which helped the business become a global brand.
Sir Andrew Philip Witty is a British business executive, who is the chief executive officer (CEO) of UnitedHealth Group. He was the CEO of GlaxoSmithKline between 2008 and 2017. He formerly held the role of chancellor of the University of Nottingham.
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Pakistan is a Pakistani pharmaceutical company which is a subsidiary of British company GSK. It is the largest pharmaceutical company in Pakistan.
Stiefel Laboratories Inc. is an American dermatological pharmaceutical company, with its global headquarters in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. It makes products such as Duac and Oilatum. Stiefel was acquired by GSK plc at a price of $2.9 billion. The company was founded in 1847 by John David Stiefel, who initially created medicated soaps.
The pharmaceutical industry in the United Kingdom directly employs around 73,000 people and in 2007 contributed £8.4 billion to the UK's GDP and invested a total of £3.9 billion in research and development. In 2007 exports of pharmaceutical products from the UK totalled £14.6 billion, creating a trade surplus in pharmaceutical products of £4.3 billion.
Study 329 was a clinical trial which was conducted in North America from 1994 to 1998 to study the efficacy of paroxetine, an SSRI anti-depressant, in treating 12- to 18-year-olds diagnosed with major depressive disorder. Led by Martin Keller, then professor of psychiatry at Brown University, and funded by the British pharmaceutical company SmithKline Beecham—known since 2000 as GlaxoSmithKline (GSK)—the study compared paroxetine with imipramine, a tricyclic antidepressant, and placebo. SmithKline Beecham had released paroxetine in 1991, marketing it as Paxil in North America and Seroxat in the UK. The drug attracted sales of $11.7 billion in the United States alone from 1997 to 2006, including $2.12 billion in 2002, the year before it lost its patent.
Dame Emma Natasha Walmsley is the chief executive officer (CEO) of GSK plc. She succeeded Sir Andrew Witty, who retired in March 2017. Before GSK, she worked for L'Oréal for 17 years, and was a non-executive director of Diageo until September 2016. She grew up in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England.
The New Frontiers Science Park is a science park in Essex, on a redeveloped research site of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).
Moncef Mohamed Slaoui is a Moroccan-born Belgian-American researcher who served as the head of Operation Warp Speed (OPWASP) under President Donald Trump from 2020 to 2021.
Haleon plc is a British multinational consumer healthcare company with headquarters in Weybridge, England. It is one of the largest consumer healthcare businesses in the world, with brands including Sensodyne toothpaste, Panadol and Advil painkillers, and Centrum vitamins. The company was projected to be a global leader in over the counter medicines with a 7.3 percent market share in 2022.