Allergan Medical history

In 1975 Allergan held approximately 30 percent of the hard contact lens market and increased its considerable share of prescription ophthalmics by 27 percent.

In 1977 Allergan was reincorporated in Delaware.

Surgeons first tested botulinum toxin A in humans in 1978, when Alan B. Scott, MD, received permission from the FDA to study the drug’s effect on strabismus.

By 1987, the $500 million contact lens care market was growing at about 20 to 25 percent annually, and Allergan and its competitors were locked in fierce competition.

Since Allergan’s botulinum toxin type A received approval from the Food and Drug Administration in 1989, its indications have quickly expanded.

In addition, in 1991 the company's board of directors approved a plan to realign Allergan into market-focus business groups with a regional structure giving the company a global focus on the Americas, Europe, Pan-Asia, and Japan.

In 1992, Alastair Carruthers, MD, MRCP, FRCPC, and his wife Jean Carruthers, MD, FRCPC, FRCOphth, issued the first report suggesting that Botox could be used for cosmetic purposes.

Allergan's shareholders, however, passed what became one of the first successful shareholder solicitations by a slight majority (52 percent) at the April 1993 annual meeting.

In 1994 Allergan acquired the Ioptex Research global intraocular lens product line.

Near Merger with Pharmacia & Upjohn in 1996

With the company's financial performance and stock price continuing to disappoint a number of institutional investors, Shepherd retired at the end of 1997 after 31 years with Allergan.

The company in 1998 also contributed $200 million to a new subsidiary, Allergan Specialty Therapeutics, Inc. (ASTI), which was then spun off to shareholders as a dividend.

In April 1999 a seemingly revitalized Allergan announced a $70 million expansion of its R&D campus at the Irvine headquarters and the addition of 300 new research scientists and other professionals.