A Milestone in Ottoman Pharmacy: The British Pharmacy in Istanbul

Halil Tekiner

The British Pharmacy (1859 - 1965) in Istanbul was one of the pioneer pharmacies of the Ottoman Empire because of the large scale of its drug manufacturing business. For more than a century, it served on the Grande Rue de Péra (today Istiklal Street) in the Beyoglu District of Istanbul, where it was run by different members of the same family: Noël Canzuch, Joseph Canzuch, François Canzuch, Vincent Giannetti and Silvio Giannetti. Among them, the pharmacist Joseph Canzuch was succeeded in receiving a "Diplome de mérite" at the International Medical Congress (London) in 1881. In 1932, the pharmacy was purchased by Pharmacist Muhittin Hüsnü Kansuk who adopted the original name (Canzuch) with only a slight difference in pronounciation, as his surname. He ran the British Kansuk Pharmacy until 1965. In 1960, M. H. Kansuk and Dr. İsmet Sözen set up a drug manufacturing company under the name Kansuk Laboratuarı which is still part of the Turkish pharmaceutical market today.

Key words: British Pharmacy, history of pharmacy, Istanbul pharmacies, Joseph Canzuch, Kansuk Laboratory, Muhittin Hüsnü Kansuk, Noël Canzuch Pharmacy of England, Pharmacie Canzuch.