NEWS
Wyeth (Madison, NJ) celebrated the 100th anniversary of its Pearl River, NY, research and manufacturing facility on September 24.
“The history of Pearl River closely mirrors the history of the modern pharmaceutical industry,” says Charles Portwood, Wyeth president, technical operations and product supply, in a news release. “And it continues to produce some of Wyeth’s most sophisticated products and to pioneer manufacturing innovations that are used across the Wyeth network.”
The 550-acre facility employs 3200 people and has housed important medical breakthroughs of the last century, including pioneering the production of the tetanus antitoxin and manufacturing vaccines for typhoid, smallpox, and polio. Wyeth Pearl River was also the site of the discovery of Aureomycin chlortetracycline, a pioneering broad-spectrum antibiotic.
The facility currently specializes in the discovery, development, and manufacture of healthcare products, including pharmaceuticals, vaccines, biotechnology products, and nonprescription consumer products. It produces such Wyeth products as Prevnar pneumococcal immunization and the Centrum multivitamin.
As part of the anniversary festivities, Wyeth donated $500,000 to the Children’s Health Fund’s Urban Health Initiative to provide healthcare to children in poverty.
