Mylan Laboratories Inc.

Mylan Laboratories Inc. is a U.S.-based generic pharmaceuticals company headquartered in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, in suburban Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It has production facilities in three states and Puerto Rico.

The company operates through three subsidiaries: Mylan Pharmaceuticals, Mylan Technologies, and UDL Laboratories. Mylan Pharmaceuticals is located in Morgantown, West Virginia and focuses primarily on solid oral dose generic pharmaceutical products. Mylan Technologies, located in St. Albans, Vermont, is the market leader in generic transdermal drug delivery technology, and is the largest producer of generic transdermal patches. UDL Laboratories, in Rockford, Illinois, is the number one supplier of unit dose pharmaceuticals to hospitals and other institutions.

History
Mylan Pharmaceuticals was founded in 1961 as Milan Pharmaceuticals by Milan Puskar and Don Panoz in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. The company moved to its present location in Morgantown, West Virginia in 1965. The company began as a distributor, but in 1966, Mylan received approval to begin manufacturing penicillin G tablets.

In 1973, Mylan became a publicly traded company on the OTC Market under the ticker symbol MYLN. Mylan was later traded on the NASDAQ.

In 1980, Mylan discontinued private-label manufacturing in favor of their own line of "Mylan-labeled" products, and in 1984 received approval for the anti-hypertensive drug Maxzide, its first proprietary product, and the first new drug to be patented by a manufacturer of generic drugs. In 1986, Mylan transferred to the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol MYL.

In 1989, CEO Roy McKnight testified before the House Oversight and Investigations Committee, exposing corruption within the Food and Drug Administration and a number of generic companies.

In 1993, Mylan acquired Bertek Inc., which was to be renamed Mylan Technologies Inc. in 1999.

By 1995, Mylan had become the most dispensed line of pharmaceuticals in America, according to the December 2004 IMS National Prescription Audit.

Mylan acquired UDL Laboratories in 1996.

In 2000, the company agreed to pay $147 million to settle accusations by the F.T.C. that they had raised the price of generic lorazepam by 2600% and generic clorazepate by 3200%. Mylan obtained exclusive licensing agreements, in 1998, for certain ingredients. The company did not admit to any wrongdoing.

In 2002, sales of generic drugs exceeded US$1 billion, and in 2004 Mylan was added to the S&P 500.

Trivia
Mylan co-founder Don Panoz left the company to pursue a career in racing and auto manufacturing. He is currently the owner of Panoz, a company that produces several limited-production sports cars.