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The Upjohn Company was a pharmaceutical manufacturing firm founded in 1886 in Kalamazoo, Michigan
Kalamazoo, Michigan

Kalamazoo is the largest city in the southwest region of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Kalamazoo County, Michigan. As of the United States 2000 Census, the city had a total population of 77,145....
 by Dr. William E. Upjohn, an 1875 graduate of the University of Michigan
University of Michigan

The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan is a public university research university located in the state of Michigan. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan, which also includes two regional campuses in University of Michigan-Flint and University of Michigan-Dearborn....
 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 for the time.

In 1995, Upjohn merged with Pharmacia
Pharmacia

Pharmacia was a pharmaceutical company in Sweden....
 AB, to form Pharmacia & Upjohn.






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The Upjohn Company was a pharmaceutical manufacturing firm founded in 1886 in Kalamazoo, Michigan
Kalamazoo, Michigan

Kalamazoo is the largest city in the southwest region of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Kalamazoo County, Michigan. As of the United States 2000 Census, the city had a total population of 77,145....
 by Dr. William E. Upjohn, an 1875 graduate of the University of Michigan
University of Michigan

The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan is a public university research university located in the state of Michigan. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan, which also includes two regional campuses in University of Michigan-Flint and University of Michigan-Dearborn....
 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 for the time.

In 1995, Upjohn merged with Pharmacia
Pharmacia

Pharmacia was a pharmaceutical company in Sweden....
 AB, to form Pharmacia & Upjohn. Later the company merged with Monsanto
Monsanto

The Monsanto Company is an American Multinational corporation agricultural biotechnology corporation. It is the world's leading producer of the herbicide glyphosate, marketed as "Roundup"....
 and took the name Pharmacia; the company retained Monsanto's Searle drug unit and spun off the remaining interests, which became the "new Monsanto". Today the remainder of Upjohn is owned by Pfizer
Pfizer

Pfizer Incorporated is a major pharmaceutical company, ranking number one in sales in the world. The company is based in New York City, and its research headquarters is in Groton, Connecticut....
. Kalamazoo county retains major manufacturing capabilities as well as a large stake in Pfizer's animal health business.

Chemistry



In chemical research, the company is best known for the development of the Upjohn dihydroxylation
Upjohn dihydroxylation

Upjohn dihydroxylation is an organic reaction converting an alkene to a cis vicinal diol, and was developed by V. VanRheenen, R. C. Kelly and D....
 by V. VanRheenen, R. C. Kelly and D. Y. Cha in 1976.

Upjohn research is best known for the process that made possible large scale production of cortisone
Cortisone

Cortisone is a steroid hormone. Chemically, it is a corticosteroid closely related to corticosterone....
. 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

Cholic acid is a bile acid, a white crystalline substance insoluble in water , with a melting point of 200-201 ?C. Salts of cholic acid are called cholates....
 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
Progesterone

Progesterone is a C-21 steroid hormone involved in the female menstrual cycle, pregnancy and embryogenesis of humans and other species. Progesterone belongs to a class of hormones called progestogens, and is the major naturally occurring human progestogen....
 with the mold Aspergillus nigercans. Over the next several years a group of chemists headed by John Hogg developed a process for preparing cortisone from the soybean steroid stigmasterol
Stigmasterol

Stigmasterol is a phytosterol with a molecular weight of 412.691 and a formula of C29H48O. It is also known as Wulzen anti-stiffness factor....
. The microbiological oxygenation is a key step in this process.

Upjohn is also well known for manufacturing Xanax, Motrin, and Rogaine.

See also

  • W. E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research
    W. E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research

    Founded in 1945, the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research is an independent research organization based in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Its purpose is to find and promote solutions to employment-related problems....


External links