The Beecham Group plc was a British pharmaceutical company. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. Founded by Thomas Beecham who opened the first factory in St Helens, Lancashire in 1859, Beecham focused on marketing the business by advertising in newspapers and using a network of wholesale agents in northern England and in London, rapidly building up the business.[1] In August 1859 he created the slogan for Beecham's Pills: "Worth a guinea a box", considered to be the world's first advertising slogan, which helped the business become a global brand.
Beecham, after having merged with American pharmaceutical company SmithKline Beckman to become SmithKline Beecham, merged with Glaxo Wellcome to become GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). GSK (and later, Haleon) still uses the Beechams brand name in the UK for its over-the-counter cold and flu relief products.[2]