Wyeth

Wyeth, formerly one of the companies owned by American Home Products Corporation(AHP), was a pharmaceutical company. The company was based in Madison, New Jersey,USA. They were known for manufacturing the over-the-counter (OTC) drugs Robitussin and thea nalgesic Advil (ibuprofen), as well as the prescription drugs Premarin and Effexor, which both boast over US $3 billion in sales annually.

On January 23, 2009 The Wall Street Journal reported that Pfizer was in talks to buy Wyeth at a cost of US $68 billion. On January 25, Pfizer agreed to the purchase, a deal financed with cash, shares and loans. The deal was completed on October 15, 2009.

In 1860, pharmacists John 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.

In 1872, Henry Bower, an employee of Wyeth, developed one of the first rotary compressed tablet machines in the United States. This enabled the mass production of medicines with unprecedented precision and speed. It was successful, and the Wyeth brothers won multiple awards at the Centennial Exhibition. In 1883, Wyeth opened its first international facility in Montreal, Canada and began vaccine production. Six years later a fire destroyed the brothers' original Walnut Street store, and they sold the retail business and focused on mass production.

Wyeth Consumer Healthcare (formerly Whitehall-Robins Consumer Healthcare) operates in over 65 countries. The division had sales of $2.5 billion in 2004 and is the fifth largest over-the-counter health products company in the world.