SmithKline Beecham plc
| File:SmithKline Beecham.png | |
| Public | |
| ISIN | 🆔 |
| Industry | Pharmaceutical |
| Fate | Merger with Glaxo Wellcome to form GlaxoSmithKline |
| Predecessors | SmithKline Beckman Beecham Group |
| Successor | GlaxoSmithKline |
| Founded 📆 | 1989 |
| Founder 👔 | |
| Defunct | December 2000 |
| Headquarters 🏙️ | , , England |
Area served 🗺️ | |
| Products 📟 | Pharmaceutical products |
| Brands | Beechams (1989–2000) Ribena (1989–2000) Geritol (1989–2000) |
| Members | |
Number of employees | |
| 🌐 Website | [Lua error in Module:WikidataIB at line 665: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). ] |
| 📇 Address | |
| 📞 telephone | |
SmithKline Beecham (legally SmithKline Beecham plc) was a British-American pharmaceutical company. It was created in 1989 by the merger of SmithKline Beckman and Beecham Group. On December 2000, SmithKline Beecham merged with Glaxo Wellcome to form GlaxoSmithKline.
History
Early days of SmithKline Beckman
Early days of Smith, Kline & French
Smith, Kline & French (SKF) was an American pharmaceutical company founded in 1830 by John K. Smith. In 1891, Smith, Kline and Company acquired French, Richards and Company. In 1929 Smith, Kline and French Company was renamed Smith Kline and French Laboratories.
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 Smith and Shoemaker, as John K Smith and Co had become in the meantime, 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 Smith, Kline and Company.
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. In 1929 Smith, Kline and French Company was renamed Smith Kline and French Laboratories and the company put more focus on research in order to sustain its business.
In 1932, SKF chemist Gordon Alles was awarded a patent for amphetamine.[1]
In 1968, the company acquired Recherche et Industrie Thérapeutiques in Belgium and changed its name to SmithKline-RIT.
In 1982, It was acquired by Allergan, an eye and skincare business.
Early days of Beckman Instruments, Inc.
In the 1950s, the company name changed to Beckman Instruments, Inc.
In 1954, Beckman Instruments acquired ultracentrifuge maker Spinco (Specialized Instruments Corp.). The Spinco division went on to design and manufacture a broad range of laboratory centrifuges.[2]
In 1955, Beckman established the seminal Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory as a division of Beckman Instruments to begin commercializing the semiconductor transistor technology invented by Caltech alumnus William Shockley. Because Shockley's aging mother lived in Palo Alto, California, the Shockley Laboratory was established in nearby Mountain View, California, and thus, "Silicon Valley" was born.
In 1961, Beckman acquired Offner Electronics, a company founded by inventor Franklin F. Offner.
Merger
In 1982, Smith, Kline & French merged with Beckman Instruments, Inc., a company specialising in diagnostics and measurement instruments and supplies. After the merger the company was renamed SmithKline Beckman.
Early days of Beecham Group
The Beecham Group plc was a British pharmaceutical company. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. GSK still uses the Beechams brand name in the UK for its over-the-counter cold and flu relief products.[3]
Beecham began as the family business of Thomas Beecham (1820–1907), a chemist. (Beecham would become the grandfather of music conductor Thomas Beecham, 1879–1961). As a boy, Beecham worked as a shepherd, selling herbal remedies as a sideline.
He later became a travelling salesman or peddler full time. His first product was Beecham's Pills, a laxative, in 1842.[4] Subsequent success enabled him to open a shop in Wigan in 1847.[5] Beecham opened its first factory in 1849 in St Helens, Lancashire, for the rapid production of medicines.[4] Under his son, Sir Joseph Beecham, 1st Baronet (1848–1916), the business expanded, but remained a patent medicine company and engaged in little research.
In 1924 Philip Hill, who made his money in real estate, acquired control of Beecham.[6] Under his leadership, the company bought up other companies for their various products and for their marketing infrastructure, acquiring the Lucozade glucose drink and Macleans (toothpaste) in 1938 and, at the same time, introducing the Ribena blackcurrant drink.[7] In 1938 it also bought the company selling Eno which had an extensive international presence.[6][8]:253 By purchasing the company manufacturing Brylcreem the following year, the company added hair products for men to its offerings.[4]
In 1943, Beecham decided to focus more on improving research and built Beecham Research Laboratories at Brockham Park, Surrey. In 1945, the company was renamed Beecham Group Ltd.[4] in 1953 Beecham acquired C.L. Bencard, which specialised in allergy vaccines.[4]
In 1959, Brockham Park became famous when Beecham scientists there discovered the penicillin nucleus, 6-APA (6-aminopenicillanic acid);[9] This discovery allowed Beecham, working in tandem with Bristol-Myers, to synthesize a number of new semisynthetic penicillins. Beecham marketed Broxil (phenethicillin), followed shortly by the more potent Celbenin (methicillin), which was active against Staphylococcus aureus. The group continued to focus on pharmaceutical development, producing further semi-synthetic penicillins. However, when Penbritin (ampicillin) came on the market in 1961, Beecham's facilities were soon inadequate for the worldwide demand for the drug. A 35-acre (140,000 m2) complex at Worthing came on line in the early 1960s to produce phenethicillin, followed by the ability to produce 6-APA, the base for semisynthetic penicillins.
The company continued to add products, and acquire other companies, through the 1970s and 1980s. In 1971 the S. E. Massengill Company was acquired. Beecham launched Amoxil (amoxicillin) in 1972, which went on to become one of the most widely prescribed antibiotics.[4]
In 1973, Aqua-fresh toothpaste was launched, and in 1977, the Sucrets brand was acquired. Augmentin, an antibiotic used to treat an array of bacterial infections, was introduced in 1981.[4] The Aqua Velva and Geritol brands were acquired from J. B. Williams in 1982.
In 1986, the Beecham Group sold its numerous soft drink brands including Tango, Top Deck, Corona, and Quosh, as well as the UK franchises for Pepsi and 7 Up, to Britvic.[10] The same year, Beecham acquired Norcliff Thayer from Revlon.
Merger and merger with Glaxo Wellcome
In 1989, SmithKline Beckman merged with Beecham Group to form SmithKline Beecham P.L.C..[11] The headquarters moved from the United States to England. To expand R&D in the United States, the company bought a new research center in 1995; another opened in 1997, in England at New Frontiers Science Park, Harlow.[4]
Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham announced their intention to merge in January 2000. The merger was completed in December that year, forming GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).[12][13] The company's global headquarters are at GSK House, Brentford, London, officially opened in 2002, by then-Prime Minister Tony Blair. The building was erected at a cost of £300 million and as of 2002[update] was home to 3,000 administrative staff.[14]
Brands
References
- ↑ Glenn E. Ullyot, Barbara Hodsdon Ullyot, and Leo B. Slater (2000). "THE METAMORPHOSIS OF SMITH-KLINE & FRENCH LABORATORIES TO SMITH KLINE BEECHAM: 1925-1998" (PDF). Bull. Hist. Chem. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, School of Chemical Sciences. 25 (1). Retrieved December 16, 2017.CS1 maint: Uses authors parameter (link)
- ↑ Arnold Thackray and Minor Myers Jr. ; foreword by James D. Watson. (2000). Arnold O. Beckman : one hundred years of excellence. Philadelphia, Pa.: Chemical Heritage Foundation. ISBN 978-0-941901-23-9 Search this book on
..
- ↑ "Get powerful relief from cold & flu symptoms with Beechams". beechams.co.uk. Retrieved 7 May 2012.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 "Our history - GSK". Retrieved 19 November 2016.
- ↑ Thomas Beecham at Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Tedlow, Richard S.; Jones, Geoffrey G. (2014). The Rise and Fall of Mass Marketing (RLE Marketing) Volume 25 of Routledge Library Editions: Marketing. Routledge. pp. 110–111. ISBN 9781317663010. Search this book on
- ↑ "SmithKline Beecham: History" Archived 20 July 2013 at the Wayback Machine, History of Advertising Trust
- ↑ Wilkins, Mira (2004). The history of foreign investment in the United States, 1914-1945. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674045187. Search this book on
- ↑ Batchelor, F.R.; Doyle, F. P.; Naylor, J. H. C.; Rolinson, G. N. (1959). "Synthesis of Penicillin: 6-Aminopenicillanic Acid in Penicillin Fermentations" (PDF). Nature. 183 (4656): 257–8. doi:10.1038/183257b0. PMID 13622762.
- ↑ "Carbonated drinks: a report on the supply by manufacturers of carbonated drinks in the United Kingdom, Chapter 8 para 8.51" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 July 2008. Retrieved 24 July 2008. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Lohr, Steve (13 April 1989). "SmithKline, Beecham to Merge". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
- ↑ "The new alchemy – The drug industry's flurry of mergers is based on a big gamble". The Economist. 20 January 2000.
- ↑ Gershon D (May 2000). "Partners resolve their differences and unite at the second attempt". Nature. 405 (6783): 258. doi:10.1038/35012210. PMID 10821289.
- ↑ "Hall that glitters isn't shareholder gold". The Daily Telegraph. 15 July 2002.
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