Page 11 - Pharmacy History 37 Nov 2009

Eli Lilly
Greg Haines
Colonel Eli Lilly 1886
Who can recall the days when a script for 32 Ilosone Capsules created a great excitement in the dispensary as its recovery price under the PBS was double the price received for other antibiotics such as AchromycinV and Mysteclin V?
Ilosone was just one of many outstanding pharmaceuticals manufactured by Eli Lilly and Company in America, and which were widely used by Australian prescribers with confidence.
This brief history of the development of the Eli Lilly empire comes from Wikipedia:
Eli Lilly (8/7/1838 – 6/6/1898)
was an American soldier, pharmaceutical chemist, industrialist, entrepreneur, and founder of the Eli Lilly and Company pharmaceutical corporation. Lilly enlisted in the Union Army during the American Civil War; he recruited a company
of men to serve with him in an artillery battery, was later promoted to Colonel, and was given command of a cavalry unit. He was captured near the end of the war and held as a prisoner of war until its conclusion. After the war, he attempted to run
a plantation in Mississippi, but
failed and returned to his pharmacy profession after the death of his wife. Lilly remarried and worked in several
pharmacies with partners before opening his own business in 1876 with plans to manufacture drugs and market them wholesale to pharmacies.
His company was successful and he soon became wealthy after making numerous advances in medicinal
drug manufacturing. Two of the
early advances he pioneered were creating gelatin capsules to hold medicine and fruit flavoring for liquid
medicines. Eli Lilly & Company
was one of the first pharmaceutical firms of its kind; it staffed a dedicated research department and put in place numerous quality-assurance measures.
Using his wealth, Lilly engaged in numerous philanthropic pursuits. He turned over the management of the company to his son in 1890 so that
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Levity in Lilly-put
Courtesy of Pharmacy in History 2009;51(1) published by the American Institute of the History of Pharmacy.
volume 5 no 37 NOVEMBER 2009
Pharmacy History Australia 11