Fisons

The business was established by Edward Packard, one of the first to manufacture superphosphate derived from coprolites, in 1843.[http://www.competition-commission.gov.uk/rep_pub/reports/1950_1959/fulltext/023c04.pdf Early history of the company to 1960] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110520023019/http://www.competition-commission.gov.uk/rep_pub/reports/1950_1959/fulltext/023c04.pdf |date=20 May 2011 }} at UK Competition Commission, 1960. (PDF) Accessed September 2007 In 1863 he was joined in business by his son, also named Edward, who was instrumental in developing the business and rationalising the United Kingdom's fertiliser industry. The business was incorporated in 1895 under the name of Edward Packard and Company Limited.

In 1919 it bought a fertiliser business founded by James Fison of Thetford in 1808 and in 1929 the parent company's name was changed to Packard and James Fison (Thetford) Limited to reflect the acquisition. In 1929 the company acquired the fertiliser business of the Prentice Brothers, Stowmarket and the company was again renamed to Fison, Packard & Prentice, Limited.{{cite web |title=Certificate of Change of Name – Packards, and James Fison (Thetford) Limited, Fison, Parkard and Prentice, Limited |url=https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/00044687/filing-history/MTM3ODk2NTU2YWRpcXprY3g/document?format=pdf&download=0 |website=Companies House |access-date=4 July 2021}}

Image:Hiller UH-12A G-ANOC Fison-Awk RWY 09.07.55 edited-2.jpg helicopter used in 1955 by Fison-Airwork to demonstrate the use of aerial crop spraying]]

The Company formally changed its name to the shorter Fisons Ltd in 1942. During the 1950s, Fisons promoted the spraying of crops utilising helicopters.{{cite web|url=http://www.british-caledonian.com/BUA_Helicopters_Pt_3.html|title=BUA Helicopters|publisher=British Caledonia|access-date=27 December 2018}}

Fisons owned parts of the Somerset Levels, where they extracted peat. In 1970 one of their staff, Ray Sweet, discovered the remains of a timber trackway. It has been dated to 3807 or 3806 BC,{{cite web | title = The day the Sweet Track was built | work = New Scientist, 16 June 1990 | url = https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg12617212.800-science-the-day-the-sweet-track-was-built.html | access-date = 26 October 2007 }} and is now known as the Sweet Track. A portion is now in the collection of the British Museum.[https://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/pe_prb/s/section_of_the_sweet_track.aspx 1986,1201.1–27] Sweet Track exhibition highlight page, British Museum

In the early 1980s the company decided to focus on pharmaceutical products and its fertiliser activities were sold to Norsk Hydro in 1982.[http://yara.co.uk/about-yara/about-yara-local/ About Yara UK] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20141205111707/http://yara.co.uk/about-yara/about-yara-local/ |date=5 December 2014 }} at Yara UK website. Retrieved December 2014

In the 1990s Fisons was targeted by the UK Earth Liberation Front, who caused nearly $100,000 in damage during a "night of action" in retaliation for Fisons' draining peat bogs in the English countryside.{{cite journal|last=Parson|first=Sean|title=Understanding the Ideology of the Earth Liberation Front|journal=Green Theory & Praxis|volume=4|issue=2|year=2008|page=52}}

Many years of successful growth were financed by sales of sodium cromoglycate in a variety of formulations used to treat asthma and allergies of the eye among several disease areas. However, the loss of lucrative product licences for Opticrom and Imferon in the US in 1991[http://www.icis.com/Articles/1991/09/23/25652/fisons-pharmaceutical-sales-hit-by-fda-move.html Fisons pharmaceutical sales hit by FDA move], ICIS, 1991 and the failure of clinical trials for Tipredane, an asthma drug, in 1993 revealed bleak prospects for the business.[http://www.answers.com/topic/fisons-plc?cat=biz-fin Full business history] International Directory of Company Histories. 2006 by The Gale Group, Inc. Retrieved September 2007

In early 1995 the Instruments Division was sold to US Thermo Instrument Systems while the Research and Development facilities in Loughborough and Rochester, New York, with their pipelines were acquired by the Swedish company Astra AB.[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19950423/ai_n13978576 Medeva may be the cure for Fisons], The Independent, 23 April 1995

In late 1995 Fisons was acquired by the United States–based Rhone-Poulenc Rorer, Inc., which in turn was wholly owned by France's chemical giant Rhône-Poulenc S.A.[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19950822/ai_n14001757/pg_1 Door still open for agreed takeover of Fisons] The Independent, 22 August 1995

File:Disused factory, Paper Mill Lane - geograph.org.uk - 1205920.jpg

The company was based in Ipswich with Pharmaceutical Research and Development in Loughborough, United Kingdom, and Rochester, New York, US, and manufacturing in Holmes Chapel, Cheshire.{{cite web|url=https://moderngov.cheshireeast.gov.uk/documents/s29520/13%203294C.pdf|title=Former Fisons site, London Road, Holmes Chapel, Cheshire|access-date=27 December 2018}} The company's fertiliser factory in Ipswich, built in 1858, was Grade II listed; it was destroyed in a fire, suspected to be caused by arson, in 2019.[https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-suffolk-48175407 Fisons: Victorian factory in Ipswich destroyed by fire] BBC News, 6 May 2019

Fisons were sponsors of Ipswich Town Football Club from the 1986–87 season through to the 1994–95 season, including the 1991–92 season when they won the Second Division championship and gained promotion to the new Premier League.{{cite web|url=https://www.eadt.co.uk/sport/ipswich-town-shirt-sponsor-history-1-5351926|title=A local radio station, fertiliser, beer... and now an online casino: Evolution of Ipswich Town shirt sponsors|date=11 January 2018|work=East Anglian Daily Times|access-date=27 December 2018}}

• Pharmaceutical industry in the United Kingdom

{{reflist}}

• [http://www.sanofi-aventis.co.uk/live/gb/en/index.jsp Sanofi-Aventis] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929211412/http://www.sanofi-aventis.co.uk/live/gb/en/index.jsp |date=29 September 2007 }} UK home page
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20110526004529/http://www.business.com/directory/pharmaceuticals_and_biotechnology/fisons_plc/profile/ Fisons Plc] Entry at Business.com. (Internet Archive Snapshot of 26 May 2011; retrieved January 2017)
• [https://atlas360.co.uk/pano/bramford-fisons 360 degree panoramic of the site] by Atlas360.

{{Pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry in the United Kingdom}}

Category:Companies based in Suffolk

Category:Pharmaceutical companies of the United Kingdom

Category:Chemical companies of the United Kingdom

Category:Conglomerate companies established in 1843

Category:1843 establishments in England

Category:Companies disestablished in 1995

Category:Defunct companies of England

Category:British companies established in 1843