Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals is an American-Irish domiciled manufacturer of specialty pharmaceuticals (namely, adrenocorticotropic hormone), generic drugs and imaging agents. In 2017, it generated 90% of its sales from the U.S. healthcare system. While Mallinckrodt is headquartered in Ireland for tax purposes, its operational headquarters are in the U.S. Mallinckrodt's 2013 tax inversion to Ireland drew controversy when it was shown Acthar was Medicaid's most expensive drug.
Mallinckrodt acquires (for repricing), manufactures, and distributes products used in diagnostic procedures and in the treatment of pain and related conditions. This includes the acquisition, manufacture, and distribution of specialty pharmaceuticals, active pharmaceutical ingredients, contrast products, and radiopharmaceuticals. The company employed 5,500 and had net sales of $3.2 billion in 2017, of which $2.9 billion was from the U.S. healthcare system.
The company has been implicated as a major contributor to the prescription opioid scandal around the over-prescription of oxycodone in the United States.
History
Origins
In 1867, the three Mallinckrodt brothers, Gustav, Otto and Edward Sr., founded G. Mallinckrodt & Co. in St. Louis. The Mallinckrodt family had immigrated from Germany. Otto and Edward both temporarily returned to Germany, then the leader in chemical research and education, for advanced training. Brothers Gustav and Otto died in the 1870s, leaving Edward (1845–1928) in sole charge of the family business. Mallinckrodt Chemical Works was incorporated 15 years later, in 1882.
By 1898, the company had established itself as a pharmaceuticals supplier and in 1913 became the first to introduce barium sulfate as a contrast medium for x-rays. In part due to early success in production of radiology agents, and at the behest of surgeon Evarts Graham, Edward Mallinckrodt Sr. assigned one of the company's top chemists to collaborate in developing the first radiographic agent for gallbladder and bile duct imaging.
Uranium processing (1942–1957) In April 1942 Edward Mallinckrodt was approached by a contingent from the Metallurgical Laboratory of the Manhattan Project, particularly by Arthur Holly Compton. Compton urgently needed a source of refined uranium. The chemical company already worked with ether, which could theoretically be used in a purifying process but which posed its own handling risks. With extreme haste and with tight security restrictions, Mallinckrodt developed a novel technique from theoretical concept, to experiment, to full production. The company submitted test materials by mid-May, supplied the material for the first self-sustaining reaction in December, and had satisfied the project's entire order of the first sixty tons before the contract with the government was even signed.
From 1942 to 1957, Mallinckrodt processed uranium ore into weapons-grade uranium at a factory north of downtown St. Louis. Nuclear waste from the factory and other locations was buried in steel drums at a 21.7-acre site near Lambert Field. Radioactive waste from the site seeped into Coldwater Creek. The area was designated a Superfund site by the Environmental Protection Agency in 1989.
Corporate changes
The company issued public shares in 1954. Viewed as an attractive takeover target in the era of leveraged buyouts, Mallinckrodt was bought by Avon Products in 1982, and largely kept intact as a business entity. Just four years later it was sold to International Minerals and Chemical Corporation. After re-brandings, spin-offs and other changes of corporate identity Mallinckrodt was again sold in 2000 to Tyco International.
Ties to Washington University in St. Louis
Throughout its history, Washington University in St. Louis has received a large number of donations from the Mallinckrodt family and corporation, including a posthumous endowment by Edward Mallinckrodt Jr. on behalf of his father to the Washington University School of Medicine Radiology Department resulting in the creation of the Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology. Both Edward Mallinckrodt Sr. and Jr. served as members of the Washington University Board of Trustees. Washington University in St. Louis' student union building and performing arts building was renamed the Mallinckrodt Center in 1976.
In 2018, Mallinckrodt partnered with the Washington University School of Medicine with funding of up to $10 million over five years to support research projects that show promise in developing new drugs for treating rare diseases.
The elder Edward also made significant donations to his alma mater, Harvard University, and to the St. Louis College of Pharmacy.