The Wellcome Trust was founded in 1936, in accordance with Henry Wellcome’s will, to improve health by supporting scientific research and the study of medicine. Funding for this mission came from the profits of the pharmaceutical business he had built up over 50 years.

In 1880, Silas Burroughs and Henry Wellcome, two pharmaceutical salesmen from America, started a new company in London called Burroughs, Wellcome & Co. They used mass production and proactive marketing to sell remedies and medicines throughout the UK and territories colonised by the British, building the company’s reputation on scientific rigour.

Henry Wellcome became a wealthy and prominent figure in the growth of the modern pharmaceutical industry. After his death in 1936 (Silas Burroughs had died in 1895), the company became the property of the newly formed Wellcome Trust, which used the profits to fund charitable activities supporting research related to health.

Despite financial difficulties after World War II, the business began to thrive again, pioneering a new approach to drug design. Successful products included the first leukaemia drug, immune suppressants for organ transplants, and antivirals such as AZT, the first drug approved to treat HIV.

Towards the end of the 20th century, the Wellcome Trust decided to sell the company, which is now part of GlaxoSmithKline and no longer has any ownership or governance relationship with Wellcome. We do work with GlaxoSmithKline, as we work with many other healthcare companies, when it helps us to achieve our mission.

The considerable proceeds from the sale gave the Wellcome Trust financial independence. Today, we invest in a wide range of financial assets around the world, and the returns from our portfolio – currently worth around £38 billion – fund everything we do.