Ibuprofen was initially introduced as a prescription NSAID used for such conditions as rheumatoid arthritis, in 1969 in the UK and 1974 in the US. Ibuprofen became available without a prescription in the UK in 1983 under the name "Nurofen" and in the US in 1984 under the name "Advil".
Time line
1974 - Introduced in the USWhen ibuprofen was introduced in the United States in 1974, the recommended dose there was 1200-3200& mg/day. This is three times the current recommended dose. The use became widespread and it was confirmed by the FDA as one of the safest of the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs); However, concerns about side effects to the liver and stomach had been mounting for some time.
Ibuprofen's safety record remained high with problems only being related to overdosing. The product was "Fast Tracked" from prescription to OTC (over the counter) status by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). It became available in the UK in 1983 under the brand name "Nurofen" and in the United States in 1984 under the brand name "Advil". Anyone could buy it without a prescription for the treatment of headaches, dental pain, migraine and menstrual pain. It is estimated that by 1985, over 100 million people had been treated with ibuprofen in more than 120 countries.
1984 - Need for Mass Production
As sales increased, Whitehall Labs, the US distributor of Advil, quickly realized that Boots (the original manufacturer) could not keep up with demand. Boots was essentially making the product manually. Michael Dryden of the Whitehall R&D staff was assigned to form a team and create an automated manufacturing process as soon as possible. Dryden hired Guido Melenger, the head of a small pharma scale-up firm, to come up with an automated process. After three years of work, a team from Whitehall concluded that Melenger would be unable to complete the task and feared his company was about to go out of business. Whitehall then formed an internal team consisting of Dryden, Webb Crew (to develop software) and George Van Parys (to develop the machinery). The first prototype machine was produced in late 1986, with the first production operation of units in late 1987.
1988 - Mega Sales = Mega Production
After obtaining full FDA approval for the first installation in Hammonton, New Jersey, the task turned to improving the design of the machinery and increasing capacity. The same team worked on an improved design with major work being done by Van Parys on system design and efficiency. At the same time, Van Parys was designing and building a massive facility in Puerto Rico along with Steve Bennett, who was the construction manager of the site, to manufacture the product on a massive scale. This effort allowed for a second design and installation in Guayama, Puerto Rico of an initial 20 new systems. Each system now produced 540,000 tablets every 9 hours, or 1,080,000 tablets per day per system. This gave Whitehall the ability to produce a total of 32,400,000 tablets per day.
1996 - Hammonton, New Jersey Plant Closes
The now Whitehall-Robbins closed the Hammonton manufacturing facility in 1996, moving its 10 production units to Rouses Point, New York. This move was short lived and the units ended up in Guayama, Puerto Rico in 2004. Up to this day, the facility is the only production manufacturing operation for Advil in the US, although other Pfizer (formerly Wyeth) facilities package the product.
Adapted from the Wikipedia article Advil, under the G. N. U. Free Documentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki
