Crookes Healthcare is a healthcare manufacturer based in Nottingham, UK and a subsidiary of

Reckitt Reckitt Benckiser Group plc, trading as Reckitt, is a British multinational consumer goods company headquartered in Slough, England. It is a producer of health, hygiene and nutrition products. The company was formed in March 1999 by the mer ...

. It manufactures some of the most well-known health remedies and

over-the-counter Over-the-counter (OTC) drugs are medicines sold directly to a consumer without a requirement for a prescription from a healthcare professional, as opposed to prescription drugs, which may be supplied only to consumers possessing a valid prescr ...

medicines (OTC) found in British chemists.

History

The name comes from Sir

William Crookes Sir William Crookes (; 17 June 1832 – 4 April 1919) was a British chemist and physicist who attended the Royal College of Chemistry, now part of Imperial College London, and worked on spectroscopy. He was a pioneer of vacuum tubes, inventing t ...

, a chemist. Crookes Collosols, started by Henry Crookes, the son of William Crookes, was formed on 29 March 1912. British Colloids Ltd, formed in December 1918, bought this company in January 1919. In 1946, it became The Crookes Laboratories Ltd, on ''Gorst Road'' in north-west London. It became a public company on 28 February 1951. Crookes Laboratories was an international company. One of its best-selling products was the LactoCalamine skin-care range. This latter featured the Hollywood film star Audrey Hepburn in its adverts. By the 1960s it was making

dosulepin Dosulepin, also known as dothiepin and sold under the brand name Prothiaden among others, is a tricyclic antidepressant (TCA) which is used in the treatment of depression. Dosulepin was once the most frequently prescribed antidepressant in the ...

, a

tricyclic antidepressant Tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs) are a class of medications that are used primarily as antidepressants, which is important for the management of depression. They are second-line drugs next to SSRIs. TCAs were discovered in the early 1950s and wer ...

(TCA), under the brand name ''Prothiaden''.

Ownership

Guinness

In November 1960 it was bought by Arthur Guinness Son and Company in a joint-venture with Philips-Duphar (part of Philips Electrical Industries) of the Netherlands, who owned 40%. In April 1969 Guinness acquired the rest of Crookes Laboratories. There were two main divisions * Crookes Laboratories Group * Crookes Anestan –

toiletries Personal care or toiletries are consumer products used in personal hygiene, personal grooming or for beautification. Products Personal care includes products as diverse as cleansing pads, colognes, cotton swabs, cotton pads, deodorant, eye li ...

Both companies were profitable. Crookes Veterinary began in September 1969. Although veterinary products had formed part of the products range well before this date; E.g. Vivomin a

food supplement A dietary supplement is a manufactured product intended to supplement one's diet by taking a pill, capsule, tablet, powder, or liquid. A supplement can provide nutrients either extracted from food sources or that are synthetic in order ...

for animals.

Boots

Boots of Nottingham agreed to buy the two divisions of the company on 26 July 1971 for around £2 million. At this point its turnover was around £700,000 a year. The Crookes Veterinary Ltd division was sold to Anglian Food Group for £260,000. This company moved to central Birmingham and was

wound up Liquidation is the process in accounting by which a company is brought to an end in Canada, United Kingdom, United States, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, and many other countries. The assets and property of the company are redistrib ...

around 1997. By the early 1980s Boots had amalgamated its most common household medical products into its Crookes Products division, which is much the form that the company retains today. In the 1980s its main competitor was the Beecham Group for OTC medicines, and with Warner-Lambert the three had about half of the market. In October 1987 it claimed to be Britain's leading manufacturer of OTC medicines. In February 1983, Boots bought Optrex Ltd. (which had been bought by

Hoechst AG Hoechst AG () was a German chemicals then life-sciences company that became Aventis Deutschland after its merger with France's Rhône-Poulenc S.A. in 1999. With the new company's 2004 merger with Sanofi-Synthélabo, it became a subsidiary of th ...

in 1976) for around £10 million; Optrex had been based at 17 Wadsworth Road in

Perivale Perivale () is an area of Greater London, west of Charing Cross. It is the smallest of the seven towns which make up the London Borough of Ealing. Perivale is mostly residential, with a library, community centre, a number of parks and open ...

from the 1930s. In October 1990, it bought Mycil from Medeva plc (who were bought by

Celltech Celltech Group plc was a leading British-based biotechnology business based in Slough. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. History Celltech was founded by Gerard Fairtlough in 1980 with fina ...

in November 1999). Under Boots, the main money-spinner of the Crookes Products division was

Nurofen Nurofen is a brand name range of pain-relief medication containing ibuprofen made by the British multinational Reckitt. Introduced in 1983, the Nurofen brand was acquired following Reckitt Benckiser's acquisition of Boots (company), Boots in 200 ...

( Ibuprofen or Brufen), which Boots had patented in 1962, developed by Stewart Adams (chemist) and launched on 8 August 1983. By the late 1980s, Nurofen had a 12% share of the

analgesic An analgesic drug, also called simply an analgesic (American English), analgaesic (British English), pain reliever, or painkiller, is any member of the group of drugs used to achieve relief from pain (that is, analgesia or pain management). It ...

s market. Gold Greenlees Trott (GGT), who later bought BBDP then were bought by

Omnicom Group Omnicom Group Inc. is an American global media, marketing and corporate communications holding company, headquartered in New York City. Omnicom's branded networks and specialty firms provide services in four disciplines: advertising, customer re ...

in 1998 and made part of

TBWA Worldwide TBWA Worldwide is an international advertising agency whose main headquarters are in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, United States. Since 1993, the agency has been a unit of Omnicom Group, the world's second largest advertising agency holdi ...

, were commissioned to make an advert to markedly increase Nurofen's market share. Analgesics are mainly purchased by 25- to 40-year-old women. The 30-second TV advert, launched on 3 May 1989, used the voice instrumental section by

Clare Torry Clare H. Torry (born 29 November 1947) is a British singer, well known for writing and performing the wordless vocals on the song " The Great Gig in the Sky" by the group Pink Floyd on their 1973 album '' The Dark Side of the Moon''. She also c ...

(for which she was originally paid £150) of ''

The Great Gig in the Sky "The Great Gig in the Sky" is the fifth track on '' The Dark Side of the Moon'', the 1973 album by the English progressive rock band Pink Floyd. The song features music by Richard Wright and non-lexical vocals by Clare Torry, being one of only ...

''. It was the first time that an analgesic brand had been advertised in such fashion, and the first time that music from Pink Floyd had been used in TV advertising; they only agreed after seeing the produced advert. From 2000 to 2006 it also made

Clearasil Clearasil is a brand of skin care and acne medication, whose products contain chiefly benzoyl peroxide, sulfur and resorcinol, triclosan, or salicylic acid as active ingredients. Clearasil has a wide range of products both for rapid and sometimes ...

, the skin-care product.

Reckitt Benckiser

Reckitt Benckiser bought

Boots Healthcare International Boots UK Limited (formerly Boots the Chemists), trading as Boots, is a British health and beauty retailer and pharmacy chain in the United Kingdom and other countries and territories including Ireland, Italy, Norway, the Netherlands, Thailand a ...

(BHI) for £1.9 billion in 2005, which required regulatory approval in early 2006.

Products

The household-name products it makes are: *

* Strepsils * E45 skincare * Optrex ( chloramphenicol) * Sweetex * Mycil (

chlorphenesin Chlorphenesin carbamate (Maolate, Musil) is a centrally acting muscle relaxant used to treat muscle pain and spasms. Chlorphenesin is no longer used for this purpose in most developed nations due to the availability of much safer spasmolytics such ...

) * Karvol * Dequacaine (Menthol flavoured Throat lozenges containing anaesthetic) In 2016 Nurofen was one of the biggest selling branded over-the-counter medications sold in Great Britain, with sales of £116.8 million. Optrex had sales of £39 million and Strepsils £34.4 million.

Discontinued products

The household-name products it no longer makes are: * Mycil Cream * Mycil Powder * Karvol

Alumni

* Sir Michael Lyons, brand manager from 1971 to 1972 for Crookes-Anestan

References

External links

Graces Guide

Its products

Nurofen in November 1998
{{Reckitt Benckiser Pharmaceutical companies established in 1918 1918 establishments in the United Kingdom Companies based in Nottinghamshire Reckitt Pharmaceutical companies of the United Kingdom Household and personal product companies of the United Kingdom 2005 mergers and acquisitions