Brioschi (company)

Advertisement for an Eau de Cologne which Brioschi distributed in Italy and its colonies
Postcard advertising Achille Brioschi Lysoform soaps
A bottle of Brioschi.
Brioschi Bottle
Bottle of Brioschi Effervescent Antacid

Brioschi is an Italian company founded in 1907 as Achille Brioschi & C. to "produce and make commerce of chemicals, liquors and similars"; in 1914 the society was quoted on the Milan stock exchange.[1] In the 1970s Brioschi was transformed into an investment company and today’s Brioschi Sviluppo Immobiliare is a real estate contractor, no longer bearing any relationship to the epoch-making "cachet Brioschi" which was once its staple product.[1] Its offshoot, the American company Brioschi Pharmaceuticals, LLC, continued to market the effervescent antacid in the United States, however in 2013 Brioschi Pharmaceuticals LLC filed for bankruptcy and discontinued selling Brioschi products in North America.[2] That was until 2015 when the Canadian company Neobourne Pharma LP. obtained control of the Brioschi Brand and trademark for North America.[3] Neobourne Pharma is now marketing and selling the effervescent antacid in the United States and in Canada.

Origins

The company’s origins date back to 1880 when Achille Antonio Brioschi (1860–1942), who had served as an apprentice at various manufacturers of chemical-pharmaceutical products and eau de Colognes, began the small-scale production of the so-called effervescente Brioschi: a powder which, when dissolved in water, produced a refreshing drink.[4] It was not a medicine, nor was it marketed as one, although the idea for it derived from effervescent products based on magnesium citrate which had originated in the UK.[4] The business grew and the product found various export markets of which the first was Brazil. Subsidiaries were established in the United States (1894) and in the Swiss Canton Ticino (1897),[4] and in 1907 the business was transformed into the company Achille Brioschi & C.[1] The popular, analgesic cachet Brioschi, based on the kalmine of Paul Métadier of Tours, was introduced in 1911; other product lines included Lysoform-based disinfectants, the Johann Maria Farina eau de Cologne, and anti-malarial drugs.[4] In 1914 the company was quoted on the Milan stock exchange.[1]

Cachet Brioschi

Brioschi is an antacid which uses sodium bicarbonate and tartaric acid as its active agents.[5] It is known for the distinctive blue bottle in which it comes and the fizzing action it exhibits when used. The Brioschi pellets themselves come in several small pale, natural lemon/tan colored rods, which are put in cool water to effervesce which is then drunk to relieve the ache of heartburn. It appears to have an "Alka-Seltzer like" reaction when placed in water, but does not contain aspirin.

After moving from Fair Lawn, NJ to Syracuse, NY in 2011 in an attempt to restart the business,[6] Brioschi Pharmaceuticals International, LLC, filed involuntary bankruptcy in October, 2013.[2] In May 2015 Neobourne Pharma LP purchased the rights of the Brioschi brand and trademark for North America.[3] They have brought Brioschi back to the marketplace and are selling it online direct to consumers.[7]

It appears that Neobourne is merely importing the Italian blend of the product and packaging it in a familiar-appearing blue plastic bottle but it is not the same "mixture" as what had been on retailers' shelves up until 2013. The re-entry (into the marketplace) product's ingredients are:

Oral Medicinal Ingredients (per dose unit): ◦Sodium Bicarbonate (Carbonic acid Sodium salt (1:1)... 1.02 Grams/Grammes (20.425%)

Non-Medicinal Ingredients: ◦Malic Acid ◦Saccharose ◦Glucose Syrup ◦Lemonade Flavour ◦Blue 1

While this mixture may have a similar effect as the earlier product, it is not the same "recipe" and long-time users of Brioschi have reported a much more tart taste (to the new version) than they were accustomed to.

Literary references

The narrator of Umberto Eco's novel The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana describes the use of Effervescente Brioschi—two distinct powders are used—to transform ordinary tap water into a home-made mineral water which reminds him of Vichy Water.[8]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 History Archived March 21, 2012, at the Wayback Machine., Brioschi Sviluppo Immobiliare.
  2. 1 2 https://business-bankruptcies.com/cases/brioschi-pharmaceuticals-international-llc
  3. 1 2 "USPTO Assignments of Brioschi". assignments.uspto.gov. Retrieved 2015-11-12.
  4. 1 2 3 4 G. P. Marchese, ‘BRIOSCHI, Achille Antonio’, Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani.
  5. ↑ ‘Brioschi products – On The Go 12 pack information’ Archived September 1, 2011, at the Wayback Machine., brioschi-usa.com.
  6. ↑ http://www.northjersey.com/news/antacid-brand-s-relaunch-a-success-1.886773?page=all
  7. ↑ "Brioschi Official Site: The Original Effervescent Antacid". Brioschi.com. Retrieved 2015-11-12.
  8. ↑ Umberto Eco, The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana, trans. by Geoffrey Brock (Random House, 2006), p. 121–22.
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