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Our history began with a remarkable group of individuals in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, who set up a range of businesses across the UK, Europe and the USA. In pharmacies, shops and drug manufacturers, they developed innovative products including medicinal soaps and cod liver oil. Their pioneering work forms the foundation of the company we know today.

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Our history began with a remarkable group of individuals in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, who set up a range of businesses across the UK, Europe and the USA. In pharmacies, shops and drug manufacturers, they developed innovative products including medicinal soaps and cod liver oil. Their pioneering work forms the foundation of the company we know today.

Print from an engraving of Plough Court pharmacy, 1927

Our first pharmacy

In 1715, Silvanus Bevan opened Plough Court pharmacy, an apothecary shop, in London.

In the 1700s, apothecaries were some of the most common medical practitioners, offering medical advice and selling medicinal products.

William Allen, an office clerk, was employed by the pharmacy in 1792, and became a partner in 1795. Allen was an esteemed medical professional; he became a founding member of the Pharmaceutical Society in 1841.

Allen & Hanburys first lab, Plough Court, London, 1880s

Our first lab

William Allen's nephews by marriage, the Hanbury brothers, joined the Plough Court pharmacy in the 1810s, and by 1856 the company became known as Allen & Hanburys.

The company expanded throughout the 1850s and 1860s, partly due to sales of their unique cod liver oil, which was used to prevent rickets and vitamin A deficiency.

Allen & Hanburys Ltd. would eventually be acquired by Glaxo Laboratories Ltd., a GSK legacy company. "Glaxo" is the origin of the 'G' in GSK.

Smith Kline & French Co. receipt, 1895

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 the company, which they built into a successful drug wholesaling business.

By 1870, their nephew Mahlon Smith was managing the company, and its bookkeeper, Mahlon Kline, had joined as a partner to form Smith, Kline & Co.

The company acquired French, Richards & Co. in 1891, to form Smith, Kline & French Company. "Smith Kline" is the origin of the 'SK' in GSK.

Stiefel price list, 1903

Soaps, candles and skincare

In 1847, John David Stiefel established a candle company in Germany which later began making medicated soaps. The soaps were so popular that Stiefel began exporting them in the 1880s.

Stiefel was acquired by GSK in 2009 - by which time it had become Stiefel Laboratories, then the world's largest independent dermatology drug company.

Packing Beecham's Pills at St Helens factory, UK, c.1890s

From shepherd boy to factory owner

Thomas Beecham, a former shepherd, was granted a licence for his first shop in 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.

Beecham became a provider of healthcare products across the UK, which over a century later merged with SmithKline Beckman Corp. to form SmithKline Beecham plc.

Necessities in New Zealand

In 1873, Joseph Nathan, a Londoner who had left the UK at age 17, established a general trading company in New Zealand, called Joseph Nathan & Co.

He sold haberdashery, ironmongery and meat products shipped over from London and invested the profits in land used for dairy farms.

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

Line drawing of Racine factory, Wisconsin, USA, 1890s

Malt and milk: Horlicks

In the 1870s, London pharmacist James Horlick developed a dried malt product which he and his brother William first sold in Chicago, USA, as a dietary supplement drink to be mixed with milk.

The Horlick brothers then moved to Wisconsin, USA, where in 1883 they patented the process of purifying and drying milk with malt to make the world's first malted milk, called Horlicks Malted Milk from 1887.

Increasing sales of Horlicks Malted Milk across the British Empire led James Horlick back to London to open an office in 1890.

Horlicks Ltd. became part of Beecham Group in 1969.

Partners in pharmaceuticals

In 1880, American pharmacists Henry S. Wellcome and Silas Burroughs began Burroughs Wellcome & Co., a drug sales partnership in London.

In 1884, they developed a new compressed tablet for medicines, trademarked as a 'Tabloid', to be an alternative to pills.

Tabloid medications were so successful that the company opened its first large scale manufacturing facility in 1889.

Burroughs Wellcome & Co. manufacturing facility in Dartford, UK, 1889

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Innovative entrepreneurs: 1715 - 1891 | GSK

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Our history began with a remarkable group of individuals in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, who set up a range of businesses across the UK, Europe and the USA. In pharmacies, shops and drug manufacturers, they developed innovative products including medicinal soaps and cod liver oil.

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While the first wireless signals were sent across the Atlantic and railways developed for commercial and then wartime use, our legacy companies were expanding across the world, developing and selling new products on an increasingly global scale.

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Manufacturing Beecham's Pills

Demand for Beecham's Pills increased in the 1880s and the Beecham's factory expanded with new, better pill manufacturing machines installed.

By 1900, production of Beecham's Pills had reached one million pills a day. By placing local language advertisements in newspapers around the world, Beecham began to reach a global consumer audience.

Pioneering modern pharmaceutical research

In 1894, the Wellcome Physiological Research Laboratories, which focused on biological experimentation, especially early forms of vaccines, were established. Within a decade, Tropical Research Labs to study tropical illnesses were founded in Sudan, and a floating mobile lab with pathology services was established on the White Nile. These research institutions form the foundation of our R&D operations today.

By the 1910s, Burroughs Wellcome had established a global presence; the New York office was the largest and most profitable international subsidiary.

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Demand for Beecham's Pills increased in the 1880s and the Beecham's factory expanded with new, better pill manufacturing machines installed. By 1900, production of Beecham's Pills had reached one million pills a day. By placing local language advertisements in newspapers around the world, Beecham began to reach a global consumer audience.

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In the heightened period of consumerism following the First World War, our legacy companies began to consolidate their products, building brand portfolios and investing in consumer advertising. This was also a period of landmark scientific breakthroughs, including the discovery of insulin and penicillin.

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In the heightened period of consumerism following the First World War, our legacy companies began to consolidate their products, building brand portfolios and investing in consumer advertising. This was also a period of landmark scientific breakthroughs, including the discovery of insulin and penicillin.

Beecham's Powders and Macleans advertisements, c.1930s

Maclean your teeth

In 1919, during the period of post-First World War consumerism, Alex Maclean's first toothpaste appeared in British shops, and Macleans Peroxide Toothpaste was one of the first whitening formulas brought to market in 1927.

In New York, a Russian immigrant named Alexander Block opened a drugstore in 1907. He acquired several dental product brands in the 1920s and 1930s and developed a special cleansing powder for denture wearers, registered as Polident, in 1935.

Don't let flu grip you

In 1926, the second product of Beecham Pills and Estates Ltd. (registered two years earlier), Beecham's Powders, was released for relief of cold and flu symptoms.

During the 1930s, the company expanded, acquiring Eno's, Veno's, Macleans, Lucozade and County Perfumers, to build a strong brand portfolio.

Cow pancreas used to produce insulin, GSK heritage archives

New discovery: insulin

In 1921, insulin was discovered as a way of managing diabetes. Legacy companies Burroughs Wellcome and Allen & Hanburys and were among the first in the UK to reproduce insulin for commercial use. By 1923, Allen & Hanburys produced 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.

Aerial photo of Glaxo's new headquarters at Greenford, UK, 1935

Glaxo Labs

In 1924, Joseph Nathan & Co.'s chemist, Harry Jephcott, licensed a method to produce a Vitamin D supplement - Ostelin, which became the first Joseph Nathan & Co. pharmaceutical product. Joseph Nathan & Co. Ltd.'s pharmaceutical enterprise was established as a subsidiary company, Glaxo Laboratories Ltd., in 1935.

By 1947, Glaxo Labs (as it was known) had surpassed its parent company in terms of sales and product range,and bought out Joseph Nathan & Co Ltd.

New Smith Kline & French Co. analytical control laboratory at Spring Garden St., Philadelphia, US, 1949 (Photo by Cortlandt V.D. Hubbard)

Becoming specialists

Smith, Kline & French Co. also spent the 1930s and 1940s focusing on the development and sale of pharmaceuticals. Product consolidation (from over 500 to just 14 by 1937) and new product launches helped solidify the company's reputation in speciality drug development.

The company opened a new Philadelphia headquarters in 1949.

Sir Henry Dale, first chairman of the Wellcome Trust, c.1930s

Medical discoveries

In 1924, Henry Wellcome brought together his company, Burroughs Wellcome & Co., with his philanthropic pursuits and research entities to form the Wellcome Foundation Ltd. Upon Henry Wellcome's death in 1936, ownership of the Foundation was transferred to the Wellcome Trust.

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

Ladies plug filled penicillin flasks with cotton wool prior to sterilisation, Glaxo factory, Watford, UK, 1944

Penicillin: the gamechanger

Penicillin had been developed into an antibiotic medicine during the 1930s. By 1944, Glaxo owned four UK facilities dedicated to producing penicillin, including one split-funded with Wellcome, that produced 7.5 billion units of penicillin annually. Approximately 80% of UK penicillin production was routed through Glaxo's Greenford site.

In 1945, Beecham Group established the Beecham Research Laboratories, its R&D arm. In 1947, a new site was opened in a ceremony officiated by Sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of penicillin.

Explore our history timeline

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In the heightened period of consumerism following the First World War, our legacy companies began to consolidate their products, building brand portfolios and investing in consumer advertising. This was also a period of landmark scientific breakthroughs, including the discovery of insulin and penicillin.

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These fifty years were pivotal in our history. During this period, we developed the first treatment for HIV, enhanced our consumer brands and developed new treatments for asthma. Company consolidation led to the formation of SmithKline Beecham and Glaxo Wellcome, which would ultimately merge to become GSK.

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Creating the GSK of today: 1950 - 1999 | GSK

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Scientists at Beecham Research Labs (Beecham's R&D subsidiary, registered in 1945) began focusing their development efforts on penicillin production in 1954. In 1957, they discovered the penicillin nucleus - the core of the molecule - known as 6-APA. From this nucleus, they determined that they could develop new, more effective penicillins.

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With the merger of SmithKline Beecham and GlaxoWellcome in 2000, GSK was formed. Now we are a science-led global healthcare company with around 100,000 employees worldwide. We aim to bring differentiated, high-quality and needed healthcare products to as many people as possible with our three global businesses of Pharmaceuticals, Vaccines and Consumer Healthcare.

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With the merger of SmithKline Beecham and GlaxoWellcome in 2000, GSK was formed. Now we are a science-led global healthcare company with around 100,000 employees worldwide. We aim to bring differentiated, high-quality and needed healthcare products to as many people as possible with our three global businesses of Pharmaceuticals, Vaccines and Consumer Healthcare.

Construction of GSK House, London, UK, 2000

Becoming GSK

The turn of the millennium began a pivotal year in our company history; SmithKline Beecham plc and GlaxoWellcome plc merged, forming the present company GlaxoSmithKline plc, known as GSK.

A year later, we acquired US-based Block Drug Co. (the company which formed from Alexander Block's US drugstore), adding to our portfolio a wider range of consumer products, including Sensodyne toothpaste.

In 2009, we acquired Stiefel Laboratories, which was then the world's largest independent dermatology drug company, enabling us to become a leader in skincare.

A community health worker discusses malaria with a family in Tandahimba district, Tanzania

Fighting malaria

Our legacy in fighting malaria stretches back more than a century. In 2014, we submitted a file to the European Medicines Agency for the world's first malaria candidate vaccine, and received a positive opinion in 2015. The WHO is now embarking on a pilot implementation of the candidate vaccine involving 750,000 children in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi.

Viiv Healthcare office, London, UK

Advances in HIV

In 2009, a unique partnership with Pfizer led to the launch of ViiV Healthcare, a company focused on delivering advances in treatment and care for HIV communities. Using the expertise of both companies and Shionogi, who joined in 2012, ViiV Healthcare now has a portfolio of thirteen HIV treatments.

Inhaler innovation

More than 200 scientists and engineers were involved in the research, design and manufacture of our dry powder inhaler, Ellipta®, launched in 2013, which allows up to three medicines to be taken via one inhaler.

The way we design and carry out clinical trials fundamentally changed with the Salford Lung Study which enabled us to understand the value of medicines when used by patients in their normal daily lives.

Novartis transaction

In March 2015, we completed a transaction with Novartis to acquire their vaccines business (excluding influenza vaccines), strengthening our position as the world's leading vaccine manufacturer.

We also combined our Consumer Healthcare business with theirs to create a new joint venture Consumer Healthcare company.

We sold our marketed Oncology portfolio to Novartis, keeping early stage Oncology research within GSK. This asset swap enabled both companies to build on their existing strengths while creating value for our assets.

Emma Walmsley, CEO, GSK

Our next chapter

Emma Walmsley, who was previously CEO of GSK Consumer Healthcare, became GSK's CEO in April 2017. Since then, new priorities have been introduced to help us deliver our purpose to help people do more, feel better and live longer. Read more about us here.

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With the merger of SmithKline Beecham and GlaxoWellcome in 2000, GSK was formed. Now we are a science-led global healthcare company with around 100,000 employees worldwide. We aim to bring differentiated, high-quality and needed healthcare products to as many people as possible with our three global businesses of Pharmaceuticals, Vaccines and Consumer Healthcare.