Wyeth

Wyeth was a

after the 2009 merger.

Wyeth manufactured

Effexor

.

History

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1860–1899

In 1860, pharmacists John (1834–1907) and Frank Wyeth opened a drugstore with a small research lab on Walnut Street in Philadelphia. In 1862, on the suggestion of doctors, they began to manufacture large quantities of commonly ordered medicines. They were successful, and in 1864 they began supplying medicines and beef extract to the Union army during the Civil War.^{[citation needed]}

In 1872, Henry Bower, an employee of Wyeth, developed one of the first rotary compressed tablet machines in the

John Wyeth died in 1907 and his only son, Stuart, became the company's president. The Whitehall building in downtown Manhattan became the corporation's first headquarters. Global sales increased due to the sales of Wyeth's Kolynos brand of toothpaste. In 1929, Stuart Wyeth died and left controlling interest to Harvard University.^{[citation needed]}

1930–1949

In 1930, Wyeth purchased Anacin, a product for tension headaches which quickly became the company's flagship product. One year later, Harvard sold Wyeth to American Home Products for US$2.9 million.^{[citation needed]}

In 1935, Alvin G. Brush, a

In 1945, Wyeth acquired the Fort Dodge Serum Company, entering the animal health field.^[citation needed]

1950–1969

In 1951, Wyeth launched

Wyeth became a leading US vaccine producer after supplying polio vaccine for Salk trials. The corporate headquarters were moved to Radnor, Pennsylvania, where they remained until 2003. William F. Laporte became the Chairman and President of AHP in 1965, and served until 1981.^{[citation needed]}

The World Health Organization initiated the Global Smallpox Eradication Program in 1967, and approached Wyeth to develop a better injection system for smallpox vaccines which could be used in the field. Wyeth waived patent royalties on its innovative bifurcated needle, aiding in the delivery of over 200 million smallpox vaccines per year.^{[citation needed]}

1970–1989

Wyeth's oral contraceptives became popular in the US. John W. Culligan, after becoming Chairman and CEO in 1981, spun off less profitable lines and focused resources on consumer and prescription drugs. Wyeth made history in 1984 with the introduction of

John R. Stafford became CEO and Chairman in 1986. He completed the divestiture of non-core businesses such as household products, foods, candy (Brach's Candy), and medical devices (e.g., its Sherwood-Medical Company was sold to Tyco-Kendal in 1997). Wyeth and Ayerst merged to form Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories, thus strengthening and consolidating Wyeth's pharmaceutical operations.

In the late 1980s, Wyeth acquired the animal health businesses of

• In 2000, American Home Products lost a
  Lipitor (at the time the #1 prescription drug in the world). At one point talks were under way in which Procter & Gamble would help by buying both companies in a wild three-way merger, a rumor which cost P&G a 10% drop in its stock price^{[citation needed]}. Although both CEOs eventually toured the world to defend the deal to the company's shareholders, Pfizer won Warner-Lambert and formed the second largest drug company in the world, while AHP had to settle for a US$1.8 billion poison-pill payment. This was at the time the biggest poison-pill payment in US history.^[3]

On January 23, 2009, The Wall Street Journal reported that Pfizer was in talks to buy Wyeth at a cost of US$68 billion.^[4] On January 25, Pfizer agreed to the purchase, a deal financed with cash, shares and loans.^[5] The deal was completed on October 15, 2009.^[6] The purchase was approved by the SEC and went into effect later in 2009, although vestiges of Wyeth remained for another year or two while effects of the merger were ironed out.

• Robert Essner, the company's former CEO, was appointed in 2001. On September 27, 2007, the Wyeth Board of Directors elected Bernard Poussot President and Chief Executive Officer effective on January 1, 2008.^[7]
• On March 11, 2002, American Home Products changed its name to Wyeth, having spun off unrelated businesses in order to focus on pharmaceuticals.^[8]
• As part of the
  equine estrogens) and related hormones^{[citation needed]}, from over $2 billion in 2002 to just over $1 billion in 2006.^[9]
  The results from the study were significant enough that Wyeth terminated the trials early due to a fear that their participants may be at risk.
• Wyeth, as a corporation, filed a 'citizens complaint' with the United States FDA on October 16, 2005, requesting that the US FDA take action against pharmacies who compound, manufacture, or sell unlicensed Bioidentical hormone replacement therapy (BHRT) drugs to their patients. Specifically, Wyeth asserted that the BHRT drugs are not licensed by the FDA according to section 505 of the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, misbranded and adulterated per sections 501 and 502 of 21 U.S.C. (paragraphs 351, 352, and 355).^[10] Drug manufacturers are required to demonstrate through clinical trials that marketed drugs are safe and efficacious, a process that BHRT drugs have not undergone. If honored, the request would require the same safety and efficacy data for those primarily engaged in alternative medicine.
• The
  European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection blamed the presence of illegal steroids in the food supply on "fraudulent exchange and disposal of pharmaceutical waste". A Wyeth factory disposing of the byproducts from synthetic progesterone manufacture was the source of the contamination.^[11]
• In 2003 Wyeth reportedly contributed funds to a not-for-profit support group, The Meningitis Centre, which lobbied the
  pneumococcal disease.^[12] Wyeth produced the only pneumococcal vaccine
  approved for young children in Australia.
• During June 2009, an Arkansas federal judge granted public access to evidence that Wyeth Pharmaceuticals "ghostwrote" medical articles regarding its hormone therapy drug Prempro. Along with The New York Times, PLoS Medicine, represented by the law firm Public Justice, had sought to intervene in a court case of women bringing an action in relation to Prempro and other hormone therapy drugs, in order to unseal papers that allegedly showed that Wyeth failed to disclose its role in preparing medical journal articles promoting Prempro and in recruiting academic authors to put their names on the articles for publication—that is that they practised ghost writing.^[13]
• On October 15, 2009 Pfizer signed the final acquisition papers making Wyeth a wholly owned subsidiary of Pfizer, thus completing the US$68 billion dollar deal.^[6]

2012–present

• In 2012, Nestlé bought the infant nutrition division of Pfizer and renamed it as Wyeth Nutrition. The Wyeth brand is still owned by Pfizer.^{[citation needed]}

Subsidiaries

Wyeth Consumer Healthcare

Wyeth Consumer Healthcare (formerly Whitehall-Robins Consumer Healthcare) operated throughout the world. The consumer healthcare division had sales of $2.5 billion in 2004 and was at the time the fifth largest over-the-counter health products company in the world.

Wyeth Pharmaceuticals

Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, formerly Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories, is the original company founded by the Wyeth brothers, originally known as John Wyeth and Brother. They focused on the research, development, and marketing of prescription drugs. The pharmaceuticals division was further subdivided into five subdivisions: Wyeth Research, Prescription Products, Biotech, Vaccines, and Nutritionals.^[14][15]

Fort Dodge Animal Health

Fort Dodge Animal Health was founded in 1912 by Daniel E. Baughman as "Fort Dodge Serum Company". The company was established in Fort Dodge, Iowa, to manufacture hog cholera serum. It became a division of American Home Products in 1945. It is a leading manufacturer of prescription and over-the-counter veterinary vaccines and pharmaceuticals. Its global headquarters are located in Overland Park, Kansas.^[16][17]

Innovative Fort Dodge products include West Nile-Innovator, Duramune Adult, CYDECTIN Pour-on, the Pyramid vaccine line, Quest Gel, and EtoGesic Tablets.

Products

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Wyeth Consumer Healthcare Products

Wyeth Pharmaceuticals Products

• Ativan (lorazepam); a benzodiazepine used to treat anxiety, insomnia, and certain seizures^[19]
• Effexor/Effexor XR (
  Social Anxiety Disorder
• Enbrel (
  Rheumatoid Arthritis (co-marketed by Amgen
  )
• Lybrel ;A breakthrough birth control medication that went on the market in 2008, Wyeth put more into the advertising of this drug than any other medicine previously^{[citation needed}
  ].
• Premarin (conjugated estrogen tablets); Estrogen HRT
  for menopausal women
• Premarin Vaginal Cream (conjugated estrogens) indicated to treat vaginal dryness at menopause
• Prevnar
   ; vaccine to protect children from pneumococcal disease
• Pristiq (desvenlafaxine); a newly approved antidepressant for the treatment of major depressive disorder (MDD)
• Protonix (
  Oesophagitis
• Relistor (methylnaltrexone); a newly approved drug for constipation induced by opioids (co-marketed with Progenics)
• Surmontil (
  REM sleep
  .
• Torisel (temsirolimus); a drug approved for the treatment of Renal Cell Carcinoma (a type of cancer).
• Tygacil (tigecycline); an antibiotic developed for treatment of intra-abdominal and skin / tissue infections caused by resistant pathogens such as MRSA
• Xyntha (Antihemophilic Factor (Recombinant), Plasma/Albumin-Free); a new form of AHF, recently approved by the US FDA
• Zosyn (piperacillin/tazobactam); another intravenous antibiotic used mainly in intensive care medicine. Also known as Tazocin in some countries.

Fort Dodge Animal Health Products

Wyeth Milk Products

Controversies

Rapamune

A "whistleblower suit" was filed against Wyeth in 2005 alleging that the company illegally marketed their drug

The drug combination fenfluramine/phentermine, usually called "fen-phen," was an anti-obesity treatment. Fenfluramine was marketed by Wyeth as Pondimin, but was shown to cause potentially fatal pulmonary hypertension and heart valve problems.

For more information refer to the article Fenfluramine/phentermine.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Wyeth.

• Wyeth.com Archived 2007-04-08 at the Wayback Machine
• Wyeth HCP Portal
• Fort Dodge Animal Health
• Fort Dodge Australia
• Fort Dodge Brazil
• Fort Dodge Europe
• Fort Dodge Mexico
• Wyeth Animal Health Canada
• Wyeth/AHP history from the Harvard Business School
• Tygacil - tigecycline IV
• Zosyn (tazobactam / piperacillin)
• Wyeth stock quote & historical chart
• The Meningitis Centre
• Effexor XR
• Pristiq
• ProMeris
• Suvaxyn PCV-2
• Gastro Club
• http://www.prevenar.co.uk/