In 1815 John Fletcher Macfarlan, licentiate of the Royal College of Surgeons, became the owner of the family business, and acquired an apothecary's shop in Edinburgh.

After serving a five-year apprenticeship in Edinburgh, he moved directly to London, before returning to Perth in 1806 to establish a chemists shop.

[1] On 13 April 1839, just three months after Henry Fox Talbot had announced his photogenic drawing process, T&H Smith placed an advert in The Scotsman offering photographic paper and chemicals.

In 1965 the Glaxo Group bought Edinburgh Pharmaceuticals, rebranding it Macfarlan Smith Ltd.[1][2] In 1958, while trying to develop dental anesthetic Lignocaine, the company had discovered the bitterest known substance, Denatonium.

Developed as a denaturant for industrial alcohol, in the 1970s it was commercial marketed as Bitrex,[9] a safety additive for household products such as liquid detergents.

[10] Bought through a management buy out in 1990, Macfarlan Smith was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1993 under the holding company Meconic, the Greek language word for poppy.

[1][2] In June 2022, Johnson Matthey sold its Health division (including Macfarlan Smith) to Altaris Capital Partners.

[4] Veranova is involved in the development and manufacturing of specialist and complex active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) for pharma and biotech customers.

As of 2012 they were growing in Dorset, Hampshire, Oxfordshire & Lincolnshire as a spring sown breakcrop recognised under the single payment scheme farm subsidy.

[12] The Office of Fair Trading has alerted the government to their monopoly position on growing in the UK and worldwide production of diamorphine and recommended consideration.