History
Tracing the pathways of progress
Parke-Davis Farm. From the Archives of the Rochester Hills Museum at Van Hoosen Farm
Our Foundational Start
Inspiring Healthcare Across Generations
Endo’s history can be traced back to the early 20th century and includes respected names in the science and pharmaceutical space, namely DuPont, Merck, and Parke-Davis.
In 1920, Intravenous Products of America, Inc. was founded as a family-run pharmaceutical company in New York City, and 15 years later, the company changed its name to Endo Products. Through an acquisition a few decades later, Endo became part of E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, better known as DuPont. The move followed lagging sales of DuPont’s first FDA-approved pharmaceutical product and aimed to boost the company’s marketing and drug research capabilities as it expanded into health sciences.
Fast-forward to the nineties, when DuPont teamed up with industry giant Merck Pharmaceuticals on a joint venture that would see the first FDA-approved treatment for AIDS, among other successful new medicines, by the latter part of the decade. During this time, DuPont-Merck reestablished Endo as a separate entity within the company, called Endo Laboratories LLC., to focus solely on generic medications. In 1997, three of the division’s executives purchased all of Endo Laboratories’ generic products, along with a dozen branded medicines, to form Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Today, Endo is a specialty pharmaceutical company focusing on developing and delivering life-enhancing products—many of which are complex in nature and require unique expertise, technology, and equipment. We focus on medical therapeutics, specifically in the areas of urology, orthopedics, and endocrinology, and on sterile injectables for hospitals and health systems, along with generics.
We’re proud to call on our past successes and history of expertise while looking forward to tackling new challenges and discovering new ways to address unmet medical needs.
Manufacturing Legacy
Proud Spirit, Bold Future
Endo’s manufacturing legacy dates back more than a century and includes the production of life-saving products for tetanus, gangrene, diphtheria, influenza, rabies, smallpox, polio, and vasodilatory shock, to name a few.
Our Rochester, Michigan facility originated as a 340-acre tract of land purchased by Parke-Davis, once America’s largest drugmaker and now a subsidiary of Pfizer, in 1907. “The farm,” as it was called, housed crops and animals, including horses, cows, and monkeys, and it was one of just two facilities in the country that was able to support the clinical work pioneered by Dr. Jonas Salk and other researchers to develop an antitoxin vaccine for polio.
Just as the plant stepped up to produce and distribute the life-saving polio vaccine in the 1950s, our team mirrored that historic moment in 2020, when we focused all our energy on meeting the demand for two of our products, which were used as part of the treatment for critical COVID-19 patients. Our supply of those medicines increased by five to 10 times in the early days of the pandemic, and meeting that rapid patient demand became the top priority for both the Rochester team and the global Endo organization. We were also selected to provide fill-finish manufacturing services for one of the vaccine candidates underway at that time.
The U.S. government took notice of Endo’s willingness to partner and the deep expertise and innovative spirit of our Rochester team. In 2021, we signed a fill-finish manufacturing agreement with the Department of Defense to support production of critical medicines for future pandemic preparedness. That meant we would boost the footprint and capabilities of our already impressive Rochester facility to be ready to serve in an emergency, if needed.
Our Rochester site is joined by seven other facilities in the United States and India that make up our global manufacturing and supply network. With over one million square feet of modern facilities, we produce and package liquids, semi-solids, solids, and injectable products using innovative high-velocity equipment. Our sites also house quality control and research and development labs, as well as state-of-the-art distribution facilities.
Endo’s manufacturing history illustrates the determination, innovation, quality, and service we continue to demonstrate today.
Transformation and Growth
Moving Forward With Purpose
In our constant pursuit to address the unmet needs of patients, Endo has a long history of developing and evolving its business to provide diverse products and capabilities.
Like many pharmaceutical companies, we have a history of mergers and acquisitions that have helped us become the company we are today. Through a merger in 2000, we became a publicly traded company. Another business move brought us multiple products and a specialization in urology and endocrinology, areas where we still focus and invest today. And it was an acquisition that gave us one of our premier products, XIAFLEX®.
We rapidly expanded our global footprint and our expertise with a series of transactions in 2014 and 2015. First, we entered the Canadian market when we acquired Paladin Labs (now Paladin Pharma), a leading Canada-based specialty pharmaceutical company, and we united under one parent company based in Dublin, Ireland, where we established our global headquarters. A year later, we acquired specialty generics and sterile injectables company Par Pharmaceutical Holdings Inc., and those two business segments remain critical to our company.
Endo initiated a financial restructuring process in 2022, with a goal of emerging as a strong growth company. This significant milestone allowed us to further advance our strategic priorities and strengthen Endo for the future.
Through these changes, we have embraced our momentum and transformation and built a sustainable business, while remaining unwaveringly committed to our mission, customers, patients, team members, and communities.
Today, we’re better positioned than ever to grow our business and to help everyone we serve live their best life.
