GlaxoSmithKline

http://www.gsk.com/about/history.htm

　 　 　 　 　 　
1830
John K Smith opens his first drugstore in Philadelphia. John's younger brother, George, joins him in 1841 to form John K Smith & Co.
1842
Thomas Beecham launches the Beecham's Pills laxative business in England. The laxative is to become widely successful.
　 　 　 　
1865
Mahlon Kline joins Smith and Shoemaker - as John K Smith and Co had become - as a bookkeeper. 		1859
Beecham opens the world's first factory to be built solely for making medicines at St Helens in England. 		1873
Joseph Nathan, who left the UK to seek new business opportunities 20 years before, establishes a general trading company at Wellington in New Zealand - Joseph Nathan and Co - the foundation for the Glaxo company to be formed later.
1880
Burroughs Wellcome & Company is established in London by American pharmacists Henry Wellcome and Silas Burroughs, four years after Joseph Nathan opened a London office.
　 　
1875
Mahlon Kline took on additional responsibilities as a salesman and added many new and large accounts. He is rewarded when the company, Mahlon K Smith and Company, is renamed Smith, Kline and Company.
1885
Thomas Beecham's company acquires headquarters on the corner of Silver Street and Water Street, St Helens, England. Two years later, the company's new factory in St Helens becomes the first in the area to have electricity.
　 1884
Tabloid is registered as a Burroughs Wellcome and Company trademark to describe its compressed tablets.
　 　
1891
Smith, Kline and Company acquires French, Richards and Company, providing a greater portfolio of consumer brands.
　 1906
Glaxo is registered by Joseph Nathan and Co as a trademark for dried milk.
1902
The Wellcome Tropical Research Laboratories open.
　 　
1929   Smith, Kline and French Company is renamed Smith Kline and French Laboratories and becomes more focused on research. 　 1947 Glaxo Laboratories Ltd absorbs the Joseph Nathan company and becomes the parent company. Glaxo is listed on the London Stock Exchange.
1936   Sir Henry Wellcome's will leaves sole ownership of The Wellcome Foundation Ltd to a UK medical research charity, today called the Wellcome Trust. Sir Henry Dale of Wellcome is awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine for his work in the chemical transmission of nerve impulses. 　 　
　 　 1958   Glaxo acquires Allen and Hanburys Ltd.
　 　 　
1982   SmithKline acquires Allergan, an eye and skincare business, and merges with Beckman Instruments Inc, a company specialising in diagnostics and measurement instruments and supplies. The company is renamed SmithKline Beckman. 　 1978   Through the acquisition of Meyer Laboratories Inc, Glaxo’s business in the US is started, to become Glaxo Inc from 1980. The broad-spectrum injectable antibiotic Zinacef (cefuroxime) is introduced by Glaxo. 　 　 　
1989 SmithKline Beckman and The Beecham Group plc merge to form SmithKline Beecham plc. 1995   Glaxo and Wellcome merge to form Glaxo Wellcome. 　 　
2000 GlaxoSmithKline formed through the merger of Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham.