GlaxoSmithKline

A large pharmaceutical corporation formed from the merger of GlaxoWellcome (which in turn was Glaxo and Burroughs Wellcome, which owned Coopers among other companies) and SmithKline-Beecham (once Smith, Kline & Company, French, Richards & Company, and Beecham Group Ltd). Makes a large variety of drugs including Valtrex and Zovirax for genital herpes, Amoxil (amoxicillin), Flonase nasal spray, Dexedrine, Imitrex, Paxil for Social Anxiety Disorder, Serevent, Tabloid, Tagamet and Zantac for heartburn, Wellbutrin, Zyban to help you quit smoking, and many, many more.

Just to be funny, they should merge with PriceWaterhouseCoopers to become GlaxoSmithKlinePriceWaterhouseCoopers. Try to fit that on a business card.

In 1994 GlaxoSmithKline, at the time Glaxo Wellcome, received a huge windfall from the United States congess - an estimated $1 billion. This was the result of a supposed typographical error in legislation that extended their patent on Zantac for an additional 19 months.

The cost of the typographical error was estimated to cost taxpayers approximately $6.2 billion dollars over 17 years. Legislation was proposed to correct the typo - it failed to pass the Republican controlled congress. The pharmaceutical industry spent millions in a successful lobbying effort to keep the unintended windfall. From 1991-1997 the industry gave nearly $20 million to American political candidates and parties.

With the legislation, Glaxo was able to continue selling Zantac at about $180/month to patients. The cost of a generic version would have been $90/month. This prompted the Gray Panthers to award their first annual Green and Greedy award to Glaxo Wellcome.