Father John's Medicine

Father John's Medicine is a cough medicine that was first formulated in the United States in a Lowell, Massachusetts pharmacy in 1855 by Carleton and Hovey to give relief to ailing Father John O'Brien. The tonic was a non-alcoholic mix made of cod liver oil and had a licorice taste.

Mr. Carleton and Mr. Hovey, using Father John as the spokesman, began to manufacture and mass-produce the medicine in Lowell, until the company was sold and moved to Cody, Wyoming in the early 1980s.

Today, as sold, the active ingredient in Father John's Medicine is Dextromethorphan HBr.

Many of Father John's Medicine Company Records are housed at the University of Massachusetts Lowell's Special Collections.