American Cyanamid
1907 Company incorporated by Frank Washburn, a civil engineer, as a manufacturer of fertilizer feedstocks.
The first Cyanamid plant was built in Ontario, Canada, its power supplied by Niagara Falls.
1916 Added Phosphoric acid as a product which, combined with the nitrogen in cyanamid, produced ammonium phosphate, a good plant food.
1922 William Bell president of American Cyanamid who initiated a programme of diversification. American Cyanamid began to manufacture cyanide from cyanamid, thereby broadening its market by supplying mining companies with a necessary chemical. The company also started to produce hydrocyanic acid, an important ingredient in the vulcanization of rubber.
As a public company it began to exchange its common stock for holdings in other companies. Some of the first companies acquired in this way were Kalbfleish (heavy chemicals), Selden (sulfuric acid), and Calco (dyes). In retrospect, Lederle Labs, acquired in 1930, was the company's most important acquisition.
Mid-1930s: direct sales to consumers of drugs and plastics helped to offset the sharp decline in the industrial demand for the company's products.
1947 Lederle researchers succeeded in synthesizing vitamin B.
1948 Lederle discovered Aureomayacin, an antibiotic that was used to treat pneumonia.
By 1953 Lederle were producing tetracycline, one of the first broad-spectrum antibiotics.
1954 Introduced an oral polio vaccine.
1956 Acquired Formica Corporation
1957 Plants for manufacturing Lederle's antibiotics were built in England, Brazil, and Argentina. Growth was slow during the 1950s for many of Cyanamid's products, and overseas pharmaceutical sales were important to the company's financial stability. At times Lederle accounted for almost half of the company's profits.
The 1960s was not a particularly good decade for American Cyanamid or the larger chemical industry.
1967 American Cyanamid suffered a major setback when it was convicted on the charge of restraint of trade. Along with Pfizer and Bristol-Myers, American Cyanamid was accused of conspiring to monopolize the marketing and manufacturing of tetracycline from 1953 to 1961. The company finally paid a fine of $48.5 million, which represented more than 50 percent of the net profit for that year.
During the 1970s Lederle Labs continued to carry the company. The consumer products division, which had a number of lucrative brands, began to lose a portion of its market share. The best-selling Breck Shampoo was overtaken by competing products.
1977 Acquired Formica International
1980s Sold the Formica and titanium divisions because their markets were too cyclical. Moved further into pharmaceuticals via purchases and joint ventures.
1986 formed a medical devices division. The firm signed agreement with Celltech Ltd. to produce a new generation of monoclonal antibodies. Researchers hoped to use the antibodies to deliver cancer drugs directly to affected sights in the body. The two firms planned to eliminate the parts of the antibodies not involved in delivering the drugs, improving their effectiveness and lessening allergic reactions.
Cyanamid moved into other high-tech areas it believed would grow in the future. In 1986 it bought 75 percent of Applied Solar Energy from Chesebrough-Pond. At the same time, the firm was moving out of the lower-tech chemical businesses it had been engaged in for years.
1991 Consolidated its chemicals business into a separate division called Cytec Industries which was eventually sold.
1992 Bought 53.5 percent of Immunex Corp.
1994 Acquired by American Home Products Corporation
See Also
Sources of Information
- [1] Company history