The Upjohn Company was a pharmaceutical manufacturing firm founded in 1886 in

Hastings, Michigan Hastings is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan, the county seat of Barry County as well as the county's only city. The population was 7,350 at the 2010 census. The city borders Hastings Charter Township on the north, east, and south, and ...

, by Dr. William E. Upjohn who was an 1875 graduate of the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

medical school. The company was originally formed to make ''friable pills'', which were specifically designed to be easily digested. These could be "reduced to a powder under the thumb", a strong marketing argument at the time.

History

Upjohn developed a process for the large scale production of

cortisone Cortisone is a pregnene (21-carbon) steroid hormone. It is a naturally-occurring corticosteroid metabolite that is also used as a pharmaceutical prodrug; it is not synthesized in the adrenal glands. Cortisol is converted by the action of the enz ...

. The oxygen atom at the 11 position in this steroid is an absolute requirement for biological activity. There are however no known natural sources for starting materials that contain that feature. The only method for preparing this drug prior to 1952 was a lengthy synthesis starting from

cholic acid Cholic acid, also known as 3α,7α,12α-trihydroxy-5β-cholan-24-oic acid is a primary bile acid that is insoluble in water (soluble in alcohol and acetic acid), it is a white crystalline substance. Salts of cholic acid are called cholates. Chol ...

isolated from bile. In 1952, two Upjohn biochemists, Dury Peterson and Herb Murray announced that they were able to introduce this crucial oxygen atom by fermentation of the steroid progesterone with a common mold of the genus

Rhizopus ''Rhizopus'' is a genus of common saprophytic fungi on plants and specialized parasites on animals. They are found in a wide variety of organic substances, including "mature fruits and vegetables", jellies, syrups, leather, bread, peanuts, and ...

. Over the next several years a group of chemists headed by John Hogg developed a process for preparing cortisone from the soybean sterol

stigmasterol Stigmasterol – a plant sterol (''phytosterol'') – is among the most abundant of plant sterols, having a major function to maintain the structure and physiology of cell membranes. In the European Union, it is a food additive listed with E num ...

. The microbiological oxygenation is a key step in this process. Subsequently, Upjohn together with Schering biochemically converted cortisone into the more potent steroid

prednisone Prednisone is a glucocorticoid medication mostly used to suppress the immune system and decrease inflammation in conditions such as asthma, COPD, and rheumatologic diseases. It is also used to treat high blood calcium due to cancer and ad ...

by a bacterial fermentation. In chemical research, the company is known for the development of the

Upjohn dihydroxylation The Upjohn dihydroxylation is an organic reaction which converts an alkene to a ''cis'' vicinal diol. It was developed by V. VanRheenen, R. C. Kelly and D. Y. Cha of the Upjohn Company in 1976. It is a catalytic system using ''N''-methylmorp ...

by V. VanRheenen, R. C. Kelly and D. Y. Cha in 1976. Upjohn's best known drugs before the acquisition by Pfizer were

Xanax Alprazolam, sold under the brand name Xanax, among others, is a fast-acting, potent tranquilizer of medium duration in the triazolobenzodiazepine (TBZD) class, which are benzodiazepines (BZDs) fused with a triazole ring. It is most commonly ...

Halcion Triazolam, sold under the brand name Halcion among others, is a central nervous system (CNS) depressant tranquilizer of the triazolobenzodiazepine (TBZD) class, which are benzodiazepine (BZD) derivatives. It possesses pharmacological properties ...

, Motrin, Lincocin, and Rogaine. In 1995, Upjohn merged with

Pharmacia Pharmacia was a pharmaceutical and biotechnological company in Sweden that merged with the American pharmaceutical company Upjohn in 1995. History Pharmacia company was founded in 1911 in Stockholm, Sweden by pharmacist Gustav Felix Grönfeldt ...

AB to form

Pharmacia & Upjohn Pharmacia & Upjohn was a global pharmaceutical company formed by the merger of Sweden-based Pharmacia AB and the American company Upjohn in 1995. Today the remainder of the company is owned by Pfizer. In 1997, Pharmacia & Upjohn sold several bra ...

; the company was owned by

Pfizer Pfizer Inc. ( ) is an American multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporation headquartered on 42nd Street in Manhattan, New York City. The company was established in 1849 in New York by two German entrepreneurs, Charles Pfizer ...

from 2002 until 2020. In 2015, Pfizer resurrected the Upjohn name for a division which manufactures and licenses drugs for which patents have expired; as of 2019, it planned to divest itself of this business in 2020. In July 2019, Pfizer announced plans to merge Upjohn with

Mylan Mylan N.V. was a global generic and specialty pharmaceuticals company. In November 2020, Mylan merged with Upjohn, Pfizer's off-patent medicine division, to form Viatris. Previously, the company was domiciled in the Netherlands, with principal e ...

, with the new company to be known as Viatris. The merger was expected to close in the first half of 2020, but was delayed due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. The merger was completed in November 2020 and the new company was named

Viatris Viatris Inc. is an American global pharmaceutical and healthcare corporation headquartered in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania. The corporation was formed through the merger of Mylan and Upjohn, a legacy division of Pfizer, on November 16, 2020. The nam ...

References

* ''Upjohn Co. v. United States'' (449 U.S. 383) (1981)

External links

Memories of The Upjohn Company
* http://www.michmarkers.com/startup.asp?startpage=S0582.htm {{Authority control 1886 establishments in Michigan 1995 disestablishments in Michigan 1995 mergers and acquisitions Companies based in Kalamazoo, Michigan Pharmaceutical companies established in 1886 Pharmaceutical companies disestablished in 1995 Defunct pharmaceutical companies of the United States Pfizer Life sciences industry

History

See also

References

External links