The rise of the British pharmaceutical industry.

Abstract

The growth of the modern pharmaceutical industry took place largely in western Europe and the United States. At the beginning of the nineteenth century little distinction could be found between, on the one hand, the American corner shop that sold drugs, the British chemist's shop, or, in Germany and elsewhere, the apothecary and, on the other hand, importers, manufacturers, and wholesale drug traders. Drug exchanges operated in major trading ports, so in Philadelphia, New York, London, and Amsterdam the trade had a selfgoverning body that helped to minimise bad business practices, especially overcharging by shippers. For the most part, however, trade consisted of representatives or proprietors of large pharmacies going to the ports when shipments came in and bargaining directly with shipping agents for bulk purchases. These purchases would typically be processed in a very preliminary fashion, cleaned, sorted, and packaged, and then enter the wholesale trade as materia medica.'3 Companies such as Allen and Hanbury, Jacob Bell, and Thomas Morson, all small London operators, established standard working arrangements whereby they would conduct retail trade from their city shops and maintain warehouses with compounding rooms from which they would serve as wholesalers to retailers in south east England. Trade was well established by the early years of the century with most suppliers offering complete ranges of medicines but perhaps concentrating on the larger scale processing of a few types of items. So when Thomas Morson returned from studying in Paris, where he came under the influence of Pelletier and others who were working on quinine products, he began to cultivate a reputation for processing quinine for the English market. Similarly, Allen and Hanbury began a company practice of processing oils as part of their efforts to supply their market with some lines that were less well served previously.4 As pharmaceutical firms grew from apothecary shops to family companies and then to large corporations, their relation with the medical community also changed. Pharmacists held a tenuous place in the medical world of the nineteenth century, although they provided important services to those members of the public who did not use doctors and supplied those who did with medicines. Towards the end of the century drug makers distanced themselves from pharmacists and their informal practice of medicine. As the distinction grew between reputable manufacturers who sought the professional market-ethical pharmaceutical producers-and the popular medicine makers, the large companies looked for a compromise between the two. They hoped to establish reputations for quality but also to reap the profits from patent or proprietary medicines.4