Subsidiary | |
Industry |
Pharmaceuticals, Healthcare |
Founded | 1879 |
Headquarters | Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, United States |
Key people
|
Denice Torres, President |
Products | Tylenol, Motrin, Imodium, Lactaid, Listerine, Plax, Visine, Benadryl, Caladryl, Zyrtec, Mylanta, Mylicon, Pepcid, Splenda, Benecol (US license) |
Parent | Johnson & Johnson |
Website | mcneilconsumerhealthcare |
McNeil Consumer Healthcare is an American medicals products company belonging to the Johnson & Johnson healthcare products group.
The company was founded on March 16, 1879 by 23-year-old Robert McNeil, who paid $167 for a drugstore complete with fixtures, inventory and soda fountain, as a retail pharmacy, in the Kensington section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Robert McNeil was a graduate of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science (University of the Sciences in Philadelphia).
In 1904, one of McNeil's sons, Robert Lincoln McNeil, became part of the company and together they created McNeil Laboratories in 1933. The company would focus on direct marketing of prescription drugs to hospitals, pharmacists, and doctors. Development of acetaminophen began under the leadership of Robert L. McNeil, Jr., who later served as the firm's chairman. In 1953 McNeil Laboratories introduced Algoson, a preparation containing acetaminophen together with sodium butabarbital, a sedative. In 1955, McNeil Laboratories introduced Tylenol Elixir for children, containing only acetaminophen.
In 1959, Johnson & Johnson acquired McNeil Laboratories and a year later the company was able to sell Tylenol for the first time ever, without a prescription. In 1961, the company moved into its Fort Washington, Pennsylvania headquarters. Along with its Fort Washington plant, McNeil also has plants worldwide.