Parke-Davis

Pfizer Inc.

Parke Davis Administration Building in 1943
Industry	Pharmaceutical
Founded	1866
Founders	Samuel P. Duffield
Headquarters	Detroit, Michigan, United States
Area served	Worldwide
Parent	Pfizer

Parke-Davis is a subsidiary of the pharmaceutical company Pfizer. Although no longer an independent corporation, it was once America's oldest and largest drug maker, and played an important role in medical history.

Parke-Davis was acquired by Warner–Lambert in 1970, which in turn was bought by Pfizer in 2000.

Parke-Davis and Company was founded in Detroit, Michigan by Dr. Samuel P. Duffield, a physician and pharmacist. In 1860 Dr. Duffield owned a small drugstore at the corner of Gratiot and Woodward Avenues. Dr. Duffield made a variety of pharmaceutical preparations, including Hoffman’s anodyne and mercurial ointment, but was overwhelmed by the operations of the business.

A partnership of Dr. Duffield and Hervey Coke Parke was formed in October 1866, with George S. Davis becoming a third partner in 1867. Parke was a businessman looking for business opportunities and Davis an ambitious man with skills in sales. Duffield withdrew in 1869 because of poor health and an interest in practicing medicine. The name Parke, Davis & Company was formally adopted in 1871, being incorporated in 1875.

In 1871 the company sent expeditions to Central and South America and the West Indies in search of medicinal plants. The company produced an herbal laxative drug Cascara found from Native Americans in the Pacific Northwest.

It was once the world's largest pharmaceutical company, and is credited with building the first modern pharmaceutical laboratory and developing the first systematic methods of performing clinical trials of new medications. The Parke-Davis Research Laboratory is a National Historic Landmark; the surrounding Parke-Davis and Company Pharmaceutical Company Plant is on the National Register of Historic Places.