S. E. Massengill Company was a
pharmaceutical company
The pharmaceutical industry discovers, develops, produces, and markets drugs or pharmaceutical drugs for use as medications to be administered to patients (or self-administered), with the aim to cure them, vaccinate them, or alleviate sympto ...
founded in 1898 by Samuel Evans Massengill, who graduated from the
University of Nashville Medical School but decided to manufacture drugs rather than practice medicine himself.
[ By 1937, it employed more than two hundred people in ]Bristol, Tennessee
Bristol is a city in the State of Tennessee. Located in Sullivan County, its population was 26,702 at the 2010 census. It is the twin city of Bristol, Virginia, which lies directly across the state line between Tennessee and Virginia. T ...
, including six graduate pharmaceutical chemists.
Elixir sulfanilamide scandal
The company was responsible for the elixir sulfanilamide
Elixir sulfanilamide was an improperly prepared sulfonamide antibiotic that caused mass poisoning in the United States in 1937. It is believed to have killed more than 100 people. The public outcry caused by this incident and other similar disast ...
disaster of 1937, described as one of the most consequential mass poisoning
A poison can be any substance that is harmful to the body. It can be swallowed, inhaled, injected or absorbed through the skin. Poisoning is the harmful effect that occurs when too much of that substance has been taken. Poisoning is not to ...
s of the 20th century. Elixir sulfanilamide was formulated with diethylene glycol
Diethylene glycol (DEG) is an organic compound with the formula (HOCH2CH2)2O. It is a colorless, practically odorless, and hygroscopic liquid with a sweetish taste. It is a four carbon dimer of ethylene glycol. It is miscible in water, alcohol, ...
as a solvent. The company claimed to have been unaware of the toxicity of diethylene glycol, despite the existence of published studies describing its dangerous properties. The elixir was released with no safety testing, leading to the deaths of at least one hundred people in fifteen states. The resulting scandal led to the passage of the 1938 Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.
Mergers and acquisitions
Massengill continued to operate as a family-owned pharmaceutical firm until it was acquired in 1971 by Beecham plc., itself later merged into SmithKline Beecham
GSK plc, formerly GlaxoSmithKline plc, is a British multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company with global headquarters in London, England. Established in 2000 by a merger of Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham. GSK is the tent ...
in 1989 and since 2000 into GlaxoSmithKline.[Mark S. Lesney]
The ghosts of pharma past
Modern Drug Discovery, January 2004
On December 20, 2011, Massengill was sold to Prestige Brands
Prestige Consumer Healthcare Inc. (formerly Prestige Brands, Inc.) is an American company that markets and distributes over-the-counter healthcare and household cleaning products. It was formed by the merger of Medtech Products, Inc., Prestige B ...
for £426 million ($660 million).
See also
*List of medicine contamination incidents
The following list encompasses notable medicine contamination and adulteration incidents.
*1937 Elixir sulfanilamide incident: S. E. Massengill Company used diethylene glycol as the solvent for the antibacterial sulfanilamide, leading to the 193 ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Massengill Company, S. E.
Pharmaceutical companies disestablished in 2011
Defunct pharmaceutical companies of the United States
Companies based in Tennessee
Pharmaceutical companies established in 1890