Beecham Group

{{Short description|Former British pharmaceutical company (1859–1989)}}

{{Infobox company

| name = The Beecham Group plc

| logo = Beecham Group logo.jpg

| image = File:BeechamsBuilding.jpg

| image_caption = Beecham's Clock Tower built in 1877; the building still stands in St Helens, Merseyside, today serving as the College Administrative centre.

| fate = Merged with SmithKline Beckman

| successor = SmithKline Beecham (later GlaxoSmithKline, now Haleon)

| foundation = 1859

| defunct = 1989

| location = London, United Kingdom

| industry = Pharmaceuticals

| key_people =

| products = Phenethicillin, Methicillin

| num_employees =

| parent = GlaxoSmithKline

| subsid =

}}

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.{{cite news |title=The man behind the eponymous Beechams Powders gets blue plaque |url=https://thebusinessmagazine.co.uk/companies/the-man-behind-the-eponymous-beechams-cold-and-flu-remedy-gets-blue-plaque/ |access-date=8 November 2023 |work=The Business Magazine}} 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.

Beecham, after having merged with American pharmaceutical company SmithKline Beckman to become SmithKline Beecham, merged with Glaxo Wellcome to become GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). GSK (and later, Haleon) still uses the Beechams brand name in the UK for its over-the-counter cold and flu relief products.{{cite web|url=http://www.beechams.co.uk|title=Get powerful relief from cold & flu symptoms with Beechams|access-date=7 May 2012|work=beechams.co.uk}}

Early history

Beecham began as the family business of Thomas Beecham (1820–1907). (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.{{cite web|url=http://www.gsk.com/en-gb/about-us/our-history/|title=Our history – GSK|access-date=19 November 2016}} Subsequent success enabled him to open a shop in Wigan in 1847.[http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/30669?docPos=1 Thomas Beecham at Oxford Dictionary of National Biography] Beecham opened its first factory in 1859, in St Helens, Lancashire, for the rapid production of medicines. In August 1859, Beechams created a slogan for Beecham's Pills: "Beechams Pills: Worth a guinea a box", which is considered to be the world's first advertising slogan. First appearing in the St Helens Intelligencer, the Beechams adverts would appear in newspapers all over the world, helping the company become a global brand.{{cite news |title=Anniversary of the first ad slogan |url=https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/17815202.issue-day-anniversary-first-ad-slogan/ |work=The Herald |date=5 August 2019}}{{cite news |title=When Beecham put St Helens on the map |url=https://www.sthelensstar.co.uk/news/14288202.when-beecham-put-st-helens-on-the-map/ |access-date=5 November 2023 |work=St Helen's Star}} The phrase was first said to be uttered by a satisfied lady purchaser from St Helens, the founder's home town.{{cite book |last1=Ratcliffe |first1=Susan |title=Oxford Treasury of Sayings and Quotations |publisher=Oxford University Press|date=2011 |page=478}} Under the founder's son, Sir Joseph Beecham, 1st Baronet (1848–1916), the business expanded, but remained a patent medicine company and engaged in little research.

Expansion and diversification

In 1924, Philip Ernest Hill (1873–1944),{{cite web | url=https://letslookagain.com/2017/11/beecham/ | title=A capsulated history of Beecham – Let's Look Again | date=24 November 2017 }}{{cite web | url=https://www.londonremembers.com/subjects/philip-e-hill?memorial_id=8963 | title=Philip E. Hill }} who made his money in real estate, acquired control of Beecham's as Beecham Estates and Pills Ltd.{{cite journal

|first=T.A.B.

|last=Corley

|title=The Beecham Group in the World's Pharmaceutical Industry 1914-70

|journal=Zeitschrift für Unternehmensgeschichte / Journal of Business History |volume=39

|issue=H. 1.

|page=23

|year=1994

|publisher=Verlag C.H.Beck

|jstor=40695463}}{{cite book|last1=Tedlow|first1=Richard S.|last2=Jones|first2=Geoffrey G.|title=The Rise and Fall of Mass Marketing (RLE Marketing) Volume 25 of Routledge Library Editions: Marketing|date=2014|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781317663010|pages=110–111}} 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.[http://www.hatads.org.uk/collections/corporate-marketing/48/SmithKline-Beecham "SmithKline Beecham: History"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130720080440/http://www.hatads.org.uk/collections/corporate-marketing/48/SmithKline-Beecham |date=20 July 2013 }}, History of Advertising Trust In 1938, it also bought the company selling Eno which had an extensive international presence.{{cite book|author-link1=Mira Wilkins|last1=Wilkins|first1=Mira|title=The history of foreign investment in the United States, 1914-1945|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofforeign0000wilk_h6u9|url-access=registration|date=2004|publisher=Harvard University Press|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts|isbn=9780674045187}}{{rp|253}} By purchasing the company manufacturing Brylcreem the following year, the company added hair products for men to its offerings.

In 1943, the company 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. in 1953, Beecham acquired C.L. Bencard, which specialised in allergy vaccines.

Beecham Research Laboratories opened a four-acre site around October 1969 in Harlow in Essex, with 80 staff.Herts and Essex Observer Friday 15 August 1969, page 12 In 1997 this became the SmithKline Beecham New Frontiers Science Park.

Antibiotics

In 1959, Brockham Park became famous when Beecham scientists there discovered the penicillin nucleus, 6-APA (6-aminopenicillanic acid);{{cite journal|url=http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v183/n4656/pdf/183257b0.pdf | title= Synthesis of Penicillin: 6-Aminopenicillanic Acid in Penicillin Fermentations| last1=Batchelor| first1= F.R. | last2= Doyle | first2=F. P. |last3=Naylor| first3= J. H. C.|first4=G. N. |last4=Rolinson|journal=Nature|volume=183|number=4656| pages= 257–8| pmid= 13622762| year= 1959| doi= 10.1038/183257b0| bibcode= 1959Natur.183..257B| s2cid= 4268993}} 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 {{convert|35|acre|m2|adj=on}} 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.

In 1973, Aquafresh 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. J.B. Williams Co., Inc. was acquired from Nabisco in 1982{{cite news |date=1982-09-14 |title=Nabisco selling Williams subsidiary |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/303025837/ |url-access=subscription |work=The Miami News |via=Newspapers.com |page=10A}} for US$100 million (approximately £59 million),{{cite news |last=Northedge |first=Richard |date=1982-09-14 |title=Beecham puts up £59m cash for U.S. group |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/750916003/ |work=The Daily Telegraph |via=Newspapers.com |issue=39580 |page=17}} which included brands Aqua Velva, Geritol, and Sominex − the U.S. formulation − along with others.{{cite news |last=Moskowitz |first=Mlton |date=1982-07-06 |title=Dissolving A Poor Team: Nabisco Looks To Sell |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/562298286/ |url-access=subscription |work=Lancaster New Era |via=Newspapers.com |volume=105 |issue=32989 |page=30}}

Later history

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.{{Cite web |url=http://www.competition-commission.org.uk/rep_pub/reports/1991/fulltext/309c8.pdf |title=Carbonated drinks: a report on the supply by manufacturers of carbonated drinks in the United Kingdom, Chapter 8 para 8.51 |access-date=24 July 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080729053335/http://www.competition-commission.org.uk/rep_pub/reports/1991/fulltext/309c8.pdf |archive-date=29 July 2008 |url-status=usurped }} The same year, Beecham acquired Norcliff Thayer from Revlon.

As the turn of the century approached, there were more significant mergers. In 1989, The Beecham Group plc and SmithKline Beckman merged to form SmithKline Beecham plc.{{cite news|title=Profile: SmithKline Beecham|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/606830.stm|publisher=BBC|date=18 December 2000}} In 2000, SmithKline Beecham and GlaxoWellcome merged to form GlaxoSmithKline.{{cite news|title=The Glaxo SmithKline merger|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/607187.stm|publisher=BBC News|date=17 January 2000}}

A history of the company, Beechams, 1848–2000: From Pills to Pharmaceuticals, written by Thomas Anthony Buchanan Corley, was published in 2011.{{Cite book |last=Corley |first=T. A. B. |title=Beechams, 1848-2000: from Pills to Pharmaceuticals |date=2011-03-29 |publisher=Crucible Books |isbn=978-1-905472-14-7 |location=Lancaster}}

Products

=Consumer healthcare=

{{columns-list|colwidth=15em|

Aquafresh
Beecham's Pills
Beecham's Powders{{cite web|url=https://www.medicines.org.uk/emc/medicine/21527|title=Beechams Powders – Summary of Product Characteristics (SPC)|quote=Beecham's Powders is a cold and flu remedy sold in the UK. The medicine is a white powder wrapped in a paper sachet. The powder is mixed with water and then drunk in suspension. The active ingredients are caffeine and aspirin, the effects of taking this remedy are the lowering of body temperature, reduction in aches and pains, along with a mild return of energy. This medicine is often used by people who need to continue working despite having a cold or mild flu.|publisher=Medicines.org |access-date=19 November 2016}}
Brylcreem
Eno
Horlicks
Lucozade
Ribena
Vosene
Macleans