Eno is an over-the-counter antacid brand produced by Haleon. Its main ingredients are sodium carbonate, sodium bicarbonate and citric acid.[1] [2] [3]
Eno was first marketed by James Crossley Eno (1827 - 1915).[4] Legend has it that his idea for the product arose while he was working at the pharmacy of an infirmary in Newcastle, Britain, with Dennis Embleton; Embleton often prescribed an effervescent drink made by mixing sodium bicarbonate and citric acid in water, and Eno adopted this beverage.[5] In reality, Eno opened a pharmacy where he made the mixture in 1852, a year before Embleton came to work at the infirmary, and such fruit salt mixtures were common at the time.[5]
Eno gave away his branded mixture to sea captains at the port, and in this way Eno's became a brand known around the world. By 1865 he had to move to a bigger facility, and he formally founded the company Eno's "Fruit Salt" Works in 1868.[5] [6] [7] In 1878 Eno moved the business to Hatcham where the factory employed 50 people by 1884.[8]
Eno was advertised heavily, as all patent medicines were at that time.[5] In 1883 it was advertised as a cure for cholera[9] and in 1892 for "keeping blood pure and free from disease", prevention of diarrhea, and many other conditions.[10] By 1928 the company had factories in England, Canada, France, Germany, Spain, and the US; that year the company was acquired by International Proprietaries, a company that had been established by Canadian businessman Harold F. Ritchie.[7] International Proprietaries was eventually renamed Eno, and in 1938 the business was bought by Beecham[7] for its products as well as its international marketing force.[11] As the pharmaceutical industry transitioned from selling cure-all patent medicines to selling drugs in the 1950s, Eno was one of a handful of products that were retained in the industry.[12]