Company Overview

Wyeth has been around since the 1860s, but the former drugstore first morphed into a research laboratory and then into a pharmaceutical and household products giant that swallows up or joins forces with a diverse range of developers and manufacturers as a means to diversify and broaden its product range—a strategy that’s been in place since the 1940s. In 1943, Wyeth—known as American Home Products until March 2002—acquired six companies, which turned out, among other things, household goods, food, and medical supplies.

It’s only been in the last ten years or so that the company switched its focus to four major divisions: the prescription pharmaceuticals and vaccines division, which now earns Wyeth some 80 percent of its revenue; its research and development arm; over-the-counter products (e.g., Advil, Centrum, Dimetapp, Preparation H); and animal health and veterinary medicine.

In September 2005, Wyeth decided to allow Teva Pharmaceuticals, USA, Inc. to sell the extended release version of the antidepressant drug, Effexor XR, in 2010. In exchange for the opportunity to sell the product seven years ahead of its patent expiration, Teva has to give Wyeth a percentage of its profits from sales.

Effexor remains the number one selling antidepressant in the world, and
the company applied to begin production on four drugs in 2006: Torisel (ternsirolimus), Viviant (bazedoxifene), bifeprunox, and Pristiq (desvenlafaxine succinate). In 2007, the FDA approved Lybrel, a low-dose, innovative birth control pill that puts an end to periods, and Torisel, a treatment for renal cell carcinoma.