History and heritage

Overview

Ever since our beginnings at the Plough Court Pharmacy in London in 1715, we’ve aimed to get ahead of the diseases that impact individuals’ health. Our legacy companies developed a variety of medicines and vaccines that helped to form the building blocks of today’s GSK - a biopharma company that has grown from a handful of individual founders into a company of over 70,000 people.

placeholder image — Glaxo packing room at Bunnythorpe, New Zealand, c.1920

From a pharmaceutical standpoint, our innovation history includes 15 first-in-class or combination vaccines and first-of-their-kind medications in respiratory, antibiotics, antivirals and oncology.

Infectious diseases

Throughout our existence as a company the landscape of infectious diseases has radically changed, especially during the last 100 years. Widespread vaccination against diseases such as diphtheria, polio and measles mean these infections are particularly rare today, while groundbreaking medications for herpes, malaria and COVID-19 continue to help people regain their physical health.

HIV

We’ve dedicated ourselves to finding advanced treatments for HIV since the disease first began emerging in the early 1980s. Since then we’ve had many first-in-kinds, including the launch of the first HIV treatment in 1987, the first single-pill, two-drug regimen in 2018 and the first long-acting injectable drug in 2021.

Oncology

One of our Nobel Prizewinning researchers, Gertrude Elion, chose to pursue chemistry because her grandfather died of stomach cancer. Her earliest molecule research with the company was in purines, which resulted in several leukaemia treatments being launched from the 1950s. Since then we’ve discovered treatments for cancers throughout the body, including lung, ovarian and kidney cancer, as well as a drug for chemotherapy-induced nausea.

Immunology

For 50 years, we have been leaders in medicines that advance the management of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). We’ve sold products for respiratory problems since the 1880s and in 1969 introduced the world’s first selective short-acting beta agonist (inhaled medication). Further drugs followed, including combination medications and novel inhaler devices. Our monoclonal antibody treatments help treat people with asthma, lupus and COVID-19.

Innovative entrepreneurs: 1715-1908

Our history began with a remarkable group of individuals in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries who set up a range of innovative, health-focused businesses across the UK, Asia-Pacific and the USA .

Plough Court opens

Apothecary Silvanus Bevan opened Plough Court pharmacy in 1715, offering medical advice and medicinal products.

Office clerk William Allen joined in 1792, becoming a partner in 1795. A renowned medical professional, Allen was also a founding member of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society in 1841.

In 1856 the Plough Court pharmacy became Allen & Hanburys. The company was eventually acquired by Glaxo Laboratories Ltd, one of GSK’s major legacy companies.

The origins of “Smith Kline”

In 1830 the Smith & Gilbert drug house opened in Philadelphia, USA. After Gilbert withdrew, John K. Smith’s younger brother George joined, helping to build a successful drug wholesaling business.

By 1870, their nephew Mahlon Smith was managing the company and its bookkeeper, Mahlon Kline had joined as partner to form Smith, Kline & Co. In 1891 they acquired French, Richards & Co. to form Smith, Kline & French Co.

From shepherd boy to factory owner

Former shepherd Thomas Beecham opened his first shop in the north of England in 1848. He developed the recipe for Beecham’s laxative pills before building what was claimed to be the first factory in the UK with electricity in 1887.

A provider of healthcare products across the UK, Beecham eventually diversified into pharmaceutical research with a focus on antibiotics, merging with SmithKline Beckman Corp. to form SmithKline Beecham plc.

Necessities in New Zealand

In 1873, Joseph Nathan, a Londoner, established general trading company Joseph Nathan & Co. in New Zealand.

Investing their profits in land used for dairy farms, the Nathan family found a way to dry thousands of litres of fresh milk, selling the product under the ‘Defiance’ brand before settling on ‘Glaxo’ in 1906.

Joseph Nathan & Co. Ltd. was bought out by its subsidiary Glaxo Laboratories Ltd. in 1947.

Partners in pharmaceuticals

In 1880, American pharmacists Henry S. Wellcome and Silas M. Burroughs founded Burroughs Wellcome & Co in London.

Focusing strongly on biological experimentation with vaccines, The Wellcome Physiological Research Laboratories were established in 1894.

Within a decade the Wellcome Tropical Research Laboratories to study infectious diseases of the tropical regions were founded in Sudan, including a floating mobile lab with pathology services on the White Nile.

Global game changers: 1909 – 1968

As technological advancements were revolutionising the wider world, our legacy companies were also expanding, developing and selling new products on an increasingly global scale. It was a period of landmark scientific breakthroughs, including the discovery of insulin and penicillin.

Crossing continents

Our legacy companies supported a wave of exploration expeditions in the early twentieth century. Burroughs Wellcome & Co.’s medical chests accompanied the first transatlantic air crossing and expeditions to the Amazon, Arctic, Antarctic and Mount Everest.

New discovery: insulin

In 1921 insulin was discovered as a way of managing diabetes. Legacy companies Burroughs Wellcome and Allen & Hanburys were among the first to reproduce the hormone for commercial use in the UK.

By 1923, Allen & Hanburys were producing 95% of the country’s insulin. However by 1924, Burroughs Wellcome had modified their processes to produce insulin on a large scale from cow pancreas.

Glaxo's first pharma product

Joseph Nathan & Co.’s first chemist, Harry Jephcott, licensed a method to produce a Vitamin D supplement in 1924. They sold it as Ostelin - their first pharmaceutical product.

The research side of the business grew and in 1935 a subsidiary company, Glaxo Laboratories Ltd was established. By 1947 Glaxo had surpassed its parent in terms of sales and product range and bought out Joseph Nathan & Co.

Medical discoveries

In 1924, Henry Wellcome combined Burroughs Wellcome & Co. with his charitable and research pursuits to form the Wellcome Foundation Ltd. Upon his death in 1936, ownership of the foundation passed to the Wellcome Trust.

The Trust’s first chairman was Sir Henry Dale, former director of the Wellcome Physiological Research Laboratories. In 1936, Dale was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine for his landmark discovery relating to the chemical transmission of nerve impulses.

Penicillin: the game changer

Penicillin was developed into an antibiotic in the late 1930s. By 1944, 80% of UK penicillin production was being routed through Glaxo’s Greenford site.

In 1945 Beecham Group established their research arm, Beecham Research Laboratories, with a focus on antibiotics. Twelve years later Beecham scientists discovered the penicillin nucleus – the core of the molecule, known as 6-APA. From this nucleus they determined they could develop new, even more effective penicillin.

Nobel Prize-winning discoveries

At Burroughs Wellcome & Co., the Wellcome Foundation’s US subsidiary, Dr. George Hitchings’ research team made a series of important discoveries over a thirty-year period.

Starting in the early 1950s, these included drugs for malaria and our first oncology drug for leukaemia. Drugs for gout, viral infections and to prevent organ transplantation rejection followed.

Hitchings, along with colleague Gertrude Elion, won the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1988.

The progression of polio vaccines

Three of our legacy companies, Glaxo Laboratories, the Wellcome Foundation and Recherche et Industrie Thérapeutiques of Belgium, sold inactivated polio vaccines from 1956. In the early 1960s oral polio vaccines were developed, drops of which were traditionally given on sugar cubes.

The introduction of polio vaccines globally helped to eradicate two strains of the virus. The remaining wild strain is subject to a global eradication order from the WHO.