- G. D. Searle & Company
G.D. Searle & Company or just Searle was a company focusing on life sciences, specifically pharmaceuticals, agriculture, and animal health. It is now part of
Pfizer .__NOTOC__History
Searle was founded in
Omaha, Nebraska , in1888 . The founder wasGideon Daniel Searle . In 1908, the company was incorporated inChicago . In 1941, the company established headquarters inSkokie, Illinois . It was acquired by theMonsanto company in 1985. Pharmacia Corporation was created in April 2000 through the merger of Pharmacia & Upjohn (itself the result of the merger ofPharmacia andUpjohn ) with the Monsanto Company and its G.D. Searle unit. The merged company was based inPeapack, New Jersey . Pfizer acquired Pharmacia in 2003 and retired the Searle name.G.D. Searle & Company's chairman was William L. Searle until 1985. William L. Searle was a Harvard graduate and Naval reservist, and was an officer in the Army Corps in the early 1950s. Directors of G.D. Searle included Andre M. de Staercke, Reuben Richards, and Arthur Wood.
Donald Rumsfeld followed Searle as CEO, and then as President, of Searle between 1977 and 1985. During his tenure at Searle, Rumsfeld reduced the number of employees in the company by 60%. The financial turnaround of the company earned him awards as the Outstanding Chief Executive Officer in the Pharmaceutical Industry from the Wall Street Transcript (1980) and Financial World (1981). In 1985, he played an instrumental role in the acquisition of G.D. Searle & Company byMonsanto .Notable products
The company manufactured prescription drugs and nuclear medicine imaging equipment. Searle is known for its release of
Enovid , the first commercial oral contraceptive, in 1960. It is also known for its release of the first bulk laxative,Metamucil , in 1934;Dramamine , for motion sickness; the COX-2 inhibitorCelebrex ;Ambien for insomnia; andNutraSweet , an artificial sweetener, in 1965. It was released in 1981 by FDA.In 1977, when Rumsfeld was CEO of the Searle corporation, the
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was reportedly reluctantFact|date=February 2007 to approveaspartame (NutraSweet) because of adverse effects on animals in testing. OnJanuary 25 1981 , (shortly after President Reagan took office), the previous FDA commissioner's authority was suspended, and the next month, the commissioner's job went to Dr. Arthur Hull Hayes, a medical doctor and pharmacist. In July, Hayes approved aspartame for dry foods.Controversies
Searle has often been criticized for unusual largesse toward members of the medical profession in the interest of promoting its drugs. In one often-cited instance, the company invited 300 doctors and pharmacists to Orlando, Florida for a winter weekend getaway, to promote its new drug
Celebrex , a pain-killer. The company paid the doctors $500 for coming to Florida and $500 for each speech on Celebrex they gave, inviting those doctors who were most likely to promote their products.Fact|date=February 2007 Searle rented out Universal Studios Theme Park for an evening for the doctors and their families. Celebrex subsequently generated roughly a billion dollars in sales during its first year on the market — the first drug ever to attain that mark in its first year out — though critics contend that it was no more effective than painkillers already on the market.Fact|date=February 2007External links
* [http://pfizer.com/ Official website]
* [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/pill/peopleevents/e_searle.html The Pill]
* [http://www.nutrasweet.com/ NutraSweet]
* [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a961129.html The Straight Dope on aspartame]
* [http://www.aspartamesecrets.com/newsletter.html Free E-course on Aspartame Dangers]
* [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/12/business/yourmoney/12sweet.html?ex=1297400400&en=f5f573adcc335534&ei=5089&partner=rssyahoo&emc=rss The Lowdown on Sweet?—article in "New York Times"]
* [http://politics.guardian.co.uk/homeaffairs/story/0,11026,1667772,00.html Safety of Artificial Sweetener Called Into Question by MP, "The Guardian", UK, December 15, 2005]
* [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/21/opinion/21tues4.html?ex=1298178000&en=9f451174adaa957b&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss The Safety of Aspartame, "The New York Times", USA, February 21, 2006]
* [http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060506/ap_on_he_me/eu_aspartame;_ylt=Amn8qxWgoP14G5J8wj96.Las0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3czJjNGZoBHNlYwM3NTE- EU Panel: Aspartame Poses No Cancer Risk, May 6, 2006]
* [http://www.newscientist.com/channel/health/mg19025513.600.html Artificial Sweetener Given the All Clear, "New Scientist", May 13, 2006]
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