Block Drug Company was a

pharmaceutical A medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy (pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the medical field and re ...

company based in

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, that specialized in dental care products. Its most popular products included Polident denture cleanser, Poli-Grip denture adhesive, Dentu-Creme denture toothpaste,

Nytol Diphenhydramine (DPH) is an antihistamine and sedative mainly used to treat allergies, insomnia, and symptoms of the common cold. It is also less commonly used for tremor in parkinsonism, and nausea. It is taken by mouth, injected into a vein ...

sleeping pill Hypnotic (from Greek ''Hypnos'', sleep), or soporific drugs, commonly known as sleeping pills, are a class of (and umbrella term for) psychoactive drugs whose primary function is to induce sleep (or surgical anesthesiaWhen used in anesthesia ...

, Tegrin medicated shampoo for

psoriasis Psoriasis is a long-lasting, noncontagious autoimmune disease characterized by raised areas of abnormal skin. These areas are red, pink, or purple, dry, itchy, and scaly. Psoriasis varies in severity from small, localized patches to complete ...

Lava Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a fracture in the crust, on land or un ...

hand soaps (acquired from

Procter & Gamble The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/consumer hea ...

), Beano and Phazyme anti-gas products, Balmex diaper rash ointments, and

Sensodyne Sensodyne is a brand name of toothpaste and mouthwash targeted at people with sensitive teeth. Sensodyne is owned by Haleon and is marketed under the name Shumitect in Japan. Effectiveness Sensodyne toothpastes work in different ways dependin ...

desensitizing toothpaste.The Gale Group. ''International Directory of Company Histories'', republished a
"Block Drug Company, Inc.: Information from Answers.com"
Answers Corporation.

GlaxoSmithKline GSK plc, formerly GlaxoSmithKline plc, is a British multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company with global headquarters in London, England. Established in 2000 by a merger of Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham. GSK is the ten ...

purchased the company for $1.24 billion in 2001.GlaxoSmithKline Completes the Purchase of Block Drug for $1.24 Billion
''Prnewswire'' (January 16, 2001)

History

The company was founded in 1907 by

Alexander Block Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...

, a Russian immigrant who had a small drugstore on Fulton Street in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

. He turned the company into a wholesaler in 1915, then became a drug manufacturer in 1925, acquiring a 50 percent interest in Wernet's Dental Manufacturing Company. Block Drug moved its headquarters to

Jersey City, New Jersey Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark. It later moved to

in 1945. Although Alexander Block built the company largely through acquisitions, he developed the Polident brand internally during the 1930s. In 1948, Block Drug rolled out the Ammi-i-Dent tooth powder, and in the early 1950s, the company developed Nytol. After Alexander Block's death in 1953, his son Leonard N. Block (1911–2005) took over, eventually becoming the company's chairman. The last major new product the company introduced was Tegrin, in 1964.

Timeline

*1971 – The company went public, trading on

NASDAQ The Nasdaq Stock Market () (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations Stock Market) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the US by volume, and ranked second ...

under the

ticker symbol A ticker symbol or stock symbol is an abbreviation used to uniquely identify publicly traded shares of a particular stock on a particular stock market. In short, ticker symbols are arrangements of symbols or characters (generally Latin letters ...

BLOCA and raising $5.2 million in its initial offering. Two years later, another stock sale generated $23 million. Later in the 1970s, Efferdent took over from Polident as the No. 1 brand in its space. *1972 – Block named as its president James Block, who was the grandson of Alexander Block and the nephew of Leonard N. Block. In 1988, James became chairman as his uncle, Leonard N. Block became senior chairman. At the same time, Leonard N. Block's son, Thomas, became the company's president. *1978 – Block Drug entered the feminine hygiene market, with the ultimately unsuccessful Gentle Spring brand. *1982 – The company acquired Phazyme/700 from the Stuart division of ICI, leading to the OTC entrance of Phazyme. *1983 – The company acquired

Passaic, New Jersey Passaic ( or ) is a city in Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city had a total population of 70,537, ranking as the 16th largest municipality in New Jersey and an increase of 656 from the 69,78 ...

-based

2000 Flushes 2000 Flushes is an automatic toilet cleaning product produced by the WD-40 Company. The toilet cleaner is dispensed from an in-tank package. History 2000 Flushes was created by Al Eisen, founder of New Jersey-based Flushco, Inc. According to th ...

toilet bowl cleaner manufacturer Flushco. In 1985, Block Drug acquired the X-14 line of hard surface cleaners from White Laboratories. Block Drug later acquired

Gold Bond Gold Bond is a brand of over-the-counter skin care products produced by Chattem of Chattanooga, Tennessee, now a subsidiary of the French pharmaceutical company Sanofi. It is available as both a powder and a topical cream. Gold Bond is used to cur ...

in 1987. *1990s – Sales began to fall as Block Drug's products began to age and face new competition, and the problem was exacerbated by a lack of new products. *1990 – Block Drug sold Gold Bond to Martin Himmel Inc.. *1995 – Block Drug divested its U.S. Reed and Carnrick Pharmaceuticals Division to Schwarz Pharma KermersUrban and also purchased Reckitt and Colman's Carpet Fresh and Rug Fresh cleaning and deodorizing products. *Late 1995 – The company acquired the Lava soap brand from

. *1996 – Block Drug purchased the Baby's Own line of baby care products, and then acquired Beano antigas tablets in 1997. *1998 – A major restructuring took place but was not successful. As part of that, the company divested Carpet Fresh, Rug Fresh, 2000 Flushes and X-14. Lava was later sold to

WD-40 Company The WD-40 Company, originally the Rocket Chemical Company, is an American manufacturer of household and multi-use products, including its signature brand, WD-40, as well as 3-In-One Oil, Lava, Spot Shot, X-14, Carpet Fresh, GT85, 1001, Solvol, 2 ...

the following year. *1999 – The company acquired Salisbury, N.C.-based Stanback Co., manufacturer of Stanback headache powder products. *2000 – Block Drug hired

Goldman Sachs Goldman Sachs () is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered at 200 West Street in Lower Manhattan, with regional headquarters in London, Warsaw, Bangalore, H ...

as an adviser to evaluate a potential sale. *2001 – At the time of its sale to Glaxo, Block Drug was reported to have $900 million in annual sales, operations in 100 countries and employed 3,000 people.

Secrecy

Although Block Drug was a public company from 1971 until 2001, it operated much like a private, family-run firm, with the Block family holding all voting shares plus 54 percent of the non-voting stock. In addition, the company never held annual meetings or issued proxy statements.

Aftermath

Leonard N. Block died in 2005 at age 93 after suffering for years from

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegeneration, neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in short-term me ...

. Block's nephew John P. Roberts was the producer of the

Woodstock Festival Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. ...

using money from his Block inheritance.

References

{{GlaxoSmithKline Companies based in Minneapolis Pharmaceutical companies established in 1907 Companies formerly listed on the Nasdaq Pharmaceutical companies disestablished in 2001 GSK plc Pharmaceutical companies of the United States Retail companies established in 1907 Retail companies disestablished in 2001 1907 establishments in New York (state) 2001 disestablishments in Minnesota 2001 mergers and acquisitions