History of the enterprise
Pfizer is the biggest pharmaceutical company on Earth. Headquarters is based in the USA in New York City. Many pharmaceutical products manufactured by Pfizer became number-one selling drugs on the world pharmaceutical market. These are :
- Lipitor (Atorvastatin) that is used to treat high cholesterol level in the blood
- Lyrica(pregabilin) that is high effective in the treatment of neuropathic pain called fibromyalgia
- Diflucan (fluconazole) is a reliable medicine against any fungi infections
- Viagra (sildenafil citrate) that has help million of people suffered from erectile dysfunction
- Zoloft(sertraline hidrochloride) that is widely used to treat depression.
The history of Pfizer begins in the middle of 19th century when two American-German cousins Charles Pfizer and Charles Erhardt founded the chemical manufacture known as Charles Pfizer and Company.
There, they manufactured santonin(an atiparasitic agent). In the 1880s Pfizer began the production of citric acid. Since that time quick growth of company begins. Pfizer continued to expand its influence by opening new factories and labs in Gerry and Bartlett streets, Harrison and Flushing avenues . The administrative headquarters was established in Manhattan. By the beginning of 20 century Pfizer's sales reached nearly 3 million dollars. During World War 2 fermentation technology was introduced and mass production of penicillin began. Penicillin became the "miracle medicine" for American troops. After World War II ended, Pfizer established new factories throughout the World: in West Europe, England, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Iran and Turkey.
Since 1991 Pfizer started with production of new generation antidepressant known as Zoloft(sertraline hydrochloride). The history of Zoloft antedates to the early 1970s. Reinhard Sarges has synthesized tametraline, the substance that worked by inhibiting norepinephrine reuptake. However it was determined that tametraline had a lot of side effects. A bit later two Pfizer chemists found some tametraline derivates and tested them in animals. Then Albert Weissman has found the most active stereoisomer : (+)-cis-isomer called sertraline. In 1991 FDA(Food and drug administation) has approved Zoloft in the treatment of different types of depression. Previous year Zoloft was approved in the UK. However it was a difficult decision as some experts during clinical trials emphasized that the medicine's effects were quite modest and in many patients there was no difference from placebo.
In 1994 Zoloft entered the Australian pharmaceutical market and became the most popular antidepressant medication. Before 2003 Zoloft was approved in the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorders for short OCD. That year Medicine and Health care Agency in the UK noticed that Zoloft is not suitable for patients under 18 years old. Food and Drug administration in 2005 added black box warning that Zoloft can cause suicidal thought or even attempts in young adult ages 18 to 24. Previous year Zoloft was prescribed almost 30 million times and became the most prescribed antidepressant medicine in the USA.