Smith, Kline & French (SKF) was an American pharmaceutical company that is now a part of the British group GSK plc.

History

In 1830, John K. Smith opened a drugstore in

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, and his younger brother, George, joined him in 1841 to form John K Smith & Co. In 1865, Mahlon Kline joined the company, as a bookkeeper. In 1875, he took on additional responsibilities as a salesman and added many new and large accounts, as a reward the company, Mahlon K Smith and Company, was renamed into Smith, Kline and Company. In 1891, Smith, Kline and Company acquired French, Richards and Company, founded in 1844 by Clayton French and William Richards, which provided the company with a greater portfolio of consumer brands. The combined business became the ''Smith, Kline and French Company''. In 1932, SKF chemist Gordon Alles was awarded a patent for

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. In 1968, the company acquired Recherche et Industrie Thérapeutiques in

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. SmithKline acquired Allergan in 1982, an eye and skincare business, and merged with Beckman Instruments, Inc., a company specialising in diagnostics and measurement instruments and supplies. After the merger the company was renamed ''SmithKline Beckman''. SmithKline Beckman and Beecham Group merged in 1989 to form SmithKline Beecham plc. In 2000, SmithKline Beecham merged with Glaxo Wellcome to form

GlaxoSmithKline GSK plc (an acronym from its former name GlaxoSmithKline plc) is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Pharmaceutics, pharmaceutical and biotechnology company with headquarters in London. It was established in 2000 by a Mergers an ...

(GSK).

References

External links

History of GSK
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Kline and French Pharmaceutical companies disestablished in 2000 Defunct pharmaceutical companies of the United States GSK plc 1830 establishments in Pennsylvania 2000 mergers and acquisitions Companies formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange