GlaxoSmithKline plc (ADR) (GSK), Eli Lilly & Co. (LLY): Pfizer Inc. (PFE) Rises to the Occasion and Changes Big Pharma Forever

Polyethylene Pam
Viagra wasn’t the only British chemical with a major March 27 milestone. Research chemists Reginald Gibson and Eric Fawcett, working at Imperial Chemical Industries, accidentally discovered the plastic polyethylene on March 27, 1933. Faulty equipment had introduced unwanted oxygen to a reaction of ethylene and benzaldehyde, creating a lump of plastic substance that held promising opportunities. Within three years, polyethylene was patented, and two years later it went into commercial production, around the same time nylon became a commercial product in the U.S.

After World War II, polyethylene became a popular commercial plastic, used in everything from plastic bags to plumbing pipes. Today, roughly 80 million tons of polyethylene is manufactured every year. The Dow Chemical Company (NYSE:DOW) is the world’s largest manufacturer, responsible for roughly a 10th of the world’s annual polyethylene production. Over in Britain, they occasionally call this plastic “polythene,” as in the Beatles’ Abbey Road song “Polythene Pam.”

The article Pfizer Rises to the Occasion and Changes Big Pharma Forever originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Alex Planes.

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