Talk:Mallinckrodt

Nuclear Waste I added information regarding Malinckrodt's illegal dumping of nuclear waste in St. Louis, but was reverted because somebody apparently thinks this article is not about the company that did the dumping. As the title of the page is simply "Malinckrodt" and the article references the business that was originally founded in St. Louis, I believe that this is relevant information. I've added the section back in. Edward Mallinckrodt, Jr., was closely involved with the Manhattan Project and directed the research into uranium production in St. Louis. Mallinckrodt, Inc., was the company that operated Mallinckrodt Chemical Works in St. Louis and eventually dumped the radioactive waste in local landfills. Even though they might be out of the uranium business now, they still have that same legacy. Going through some merger-reorganization-relocation-acquisition process doesn't eliminate history. Phyrkrakr (talk) 21:44, 5 February 2015 (UTC)

The following statement does not cite a source: "Mallinckrodt also produces cocaine derived from the Coca-Cola coca leaves, extracted by the Stepan Company." It is recommended that the author verify this statement by citing a source, or the statement should be modified/removed. 97.88.119.123 (talk) 14:22, 19 December 2014 (UTC)

I am proposing the following article revision. Details of the revisions and additions are found at the bottom of this entry, under the proposed revised article. However, before I make the edits to the actual article itself, I was advised by Wikipedia editor User:Huon to make my recommendations to the Talk page first. In addition, I have incorporated the editorial changes recommended to my original submission, including replacing blogs as sources, removing the sentence that had the SEC as a source (not considered neutral), changing language to clarify cocaine statement (editor was skeptical) and adding Wikilinks per editor's recommendation. In addition to the recommended improvements to my draft, the editor also noted that my article includes an "impressive selection of reliable, truly independent sources that may well serve to improve our coverage of the company, especially its early history and the various acquisitions."

REVISED ARTICLE:

Mallinckrodt, based in St. Louis, Missouri, is the pharmaceuticals business of Covidien, a global healthcare products company based in Dublin, Ireland that manufactures, distributes and services medical devices, pharmaceuticals and medical supplies.

Mallinckrodt manufactures and distributes products used in diagnostic procedures and in the treatment of pain and related conditions. This includes the development, manufacture and distribution of specialty pharmaceuticals, active pharmaceutical ingredients, contrast products and radiopharmaceuticals. The company employs 5,500 at 47 locations around the world. Net sales were $2 billion in 2011.

Separation from Covidien

In 2011, Covidien announced plans to spin off its pharmaceuticals business into a standalone public company.

History

Early History

In 1867, the Mallinckrodt brothers, Gustav, Otto and Edward, founded G. Mallinckrodt & Co. in St. Louis, Missouri. Mallinckrodt Chemical Works was incorporated 15 years later. By 1898, the company had established itself as a pharmaceuticals supplier and in 1913 became the first to introduce barium sulfate as a contrast media for x-rays. The Mallinckrodt General Clinical Research Center received contributions from Edward C. Mallinckrodt, Jr., who headed the firm in the 1940s.

Recent History

• 1981 – Mallinckrodt is listed among Fortune 500 companies
• 1982 – Avon Products, Inc. acquires Mallinckrodt
• 1986 – International Minerals and Chemical Corporation (IMCERA Group Inc.) acquires Mallinckrodt from Avon
• 1995 – Mallinckrodt establishes generic pharmaceuticals business
• 1996 – Mallinckrodt Inc. acquires maker of urology imaging systems and injectors, Liebel-Flarsheim Co.
• 2000 – Tyco International acquires Mallinckrodt
• 2007 – Tyco Healthcare spins off and becomes Covidien, an independent company
• 2011 – Covidien closes plant in Chesterfield, UK which makes para-aminophenol, with the loss of 64 jobs.
• 2011 – Covidien announces plans to spin off Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals as a standalone public company
• 2012 – Mallinckrodt announces acquisition of CNS Therapeutics for $100 million

Market

Mallinckrodt markets its products to major wholesalers and retail drug store chains. Imaging products are marketed primarily to physicians, technologists and hospitals, imaging centers, cardiology clinics and radiopharmacies.

Products

Mallinckrodt is the largest U.S. supplier, by prescription, of opioid pain medications and the largest U.S. supplier of the medical isotope technetium-99m. The company is among the top 10 generic pharmaceuticals manufacturers in the United States. The company is also the largest producer of bulk acetominophen.

Ingredient Sourcing

Mallinckrodt sources ingredients nationally and outside of the U.S. The company legally sources cocaine from the Stepan Company plant in Maywood, New Jersey. Mallinckrodt is also one of the U.S. importers of opium from India. Until 2010, the National Institute on Drug Abuse at the University of Mississippi supplied Mallinckrodt with marijuana to produce a generic version of Marinol.

References

Here are the detailed explanations of the revisions that I made from the original article to the new proposed article:
REVISION 1)
MOVED SENTENCE TO THE HISTORY SECTION WHERE IT MADE MORE SENSE. IT WAS PREVIOUSLY AT THE END OF THE ARTICLE: 2011 – Covidien closes plant in Chesterfield, UK which makes para-aminophenol, with the loss of 64 jobs.

REVISION 2)
REPLACED THE FOLLOWING SENTENCE:
Mallinckrodt is the sole legal source for cocaine in the United States, which it receives from a Stepan Company plant in Maywood, New Jersey (in relation to the soft drink Coca-Cola) and is the only firm in the U.S. licensed to import coca leaves. Federal restrictions also bar the importation of drugs, such as Esterom, manufactured from cocaine, which therefore requires that manufacturers use this supplier. (Source: http://www.secinfo.com/dv22g.63b.htm)
EDITED BECAUSE OF FACTUAL INACCURACIES, INCLUDING:
1. Mallinckrodt is not the sole company to import cocaine to the United States. The source that states this is from 1988, and out of date. Other companies include Johnson Matthey, Sigma Aldrich, Cody Laboratories, Siegfried USA, and several others. Information on other companies that plan to import cocaine into the US are found on the DEA website. (Sources: http://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/fed_regs/manufact/app/2006/fr120116.htm; http://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/fed_regs/manufact/reg/2006/fr082210.htm; http://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/fed_regs/imprt/app/2009/fr09082.htm)
2. Mallinckrodt is not connected to Coca-Cola, so the reference is irrelevant to the article.
REVISION:
Mallinckrodt sources ingredients nationally and outside of the U.S. The company legally sources cocaine from the Stepan Company plant in Maywood, New Jersey. Mallinckrodt is also one of the U.S. importers of opium from India. (Source: http://www.senliscouncil.net/documents/feasibility_study_conclusions_and_recommendations)

REVISION 3)
REVISED THE FOLLOWING SENTENCE:
The most famous federally approved cannabis grower, Dr. Mahmoud El Sohly, has also testified he has begun legally selling THC extracted from his Mississippi marijuana farm to the drug company Mallinckrodt. (No Source cited.)
REVISED BECAUSE THE REFERENCE IS OUTDATED, FACTUALLY INACCURATE, AND DOES NOT CITE A SOURCE:
Dr. El Sohly worked at the university where the THC was purchased, but the original article made it sound as though the purchase was from him, not the university. Further explanation: Mallinckrodt purchased an extract derived from marijuana grown by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Institute_on_Drug_Abuse) through the University of Mississippi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Mississippi), but discontinued purchasing it in 2010.
REVISION:
Until 2010, the National Institute on Drug Abuse at the University of Mississippi supplied Mallinckrodt with marijuana to produce a generic version of Marinol. (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/19/health/policy/19marijuana.html?_r=0)

REVISION 4)
Enhanced references by citing numerous Wiki links and external links to news and government sources.

REVISION 5)
Added detailed history and product information.
Thank you for your consideration.

--Rkhaarma (talk) 15:17, 8 April 2013 (UTC)

Cocaine

@Oknazevad: I'm really not understanding why you think this single drug is more noteworthy than Mallinkrodt's other products, specifically those that account for the bulk of its revenue. The NYTimes article you cite is 15 years old, its about Coca Cola company not Mallinkrodt, and it mentions the company in two sentences. Other drugs produced by this company have been the subject of entire NYTimes articles, but you are not insisting on including those, nor do you seem particularly curious about them. The company manufactures a wide range of opiate products that are subject to close federal control. Why cocaine?

Here are other Mallink products that have recieved much more extensive and recent coverage and which actually matter to the company's bottom line.

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/04/07/mallinckrodt-to-buy-californias-questcor-for-5-6-billion/

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/02/11/mallinckrodt-to-buy-san-diego-biopharmaceutical-firm-for-1-3-billion/

Formerly 98 (talk) 15:16, 14 January 2015 (UTC)

I would have no objection to the addition of some coverage of that, nor would I have an issue with a significant copy edit of the section, making it into a more general overview of the company's status as a sole-source provider for medical usage of many otherwise illegal drugs. I do object to outright removal of the section, though, as it is a notable aspect of the company's role in the industry. The Coca-Cola connection should probably still be mentioned, though, as the sourcing of the drug is really a byproduct of the preparation of the leaves for Coca-Cola. (Indeed, that's how I arrived at this article, by following the link from the Stepan Company,; I was surprised that no mention was made of this company's role at all, only to find that it had been recently removed by looking t the edit history.) oknazevad (talk) 16:19, 14 January 2015 (UTC)

I personally think it is not material to the company and more of a gee whiz factoid than encyclopedic content. But I've expanded the discussion of other products, and if you add a short note about these products to the end of that I can live with it. Formerly 98 (talk) 17:15, 14 January 2015 (UTC)

Sounds reasonable. I'll work something up later today/tomorrow when I get the chance.