Who Makes Advil?
Advil is made by Haleon plc, the consumer healthcare company that spun off from GSK in July 2022. Manufacturing runs in the US, Puerto Rico and Ireland.
Quick Answer
Advil is made by Haleon plc., a British consumer healthcare company that was spun off from GSK (formerly GlaxoSmithKline) in July 2022. Haleon trades on the London Stock Exchange as HLN and on the NYSE as HLN.
The ibuprofen inside Advil is sourced from BASF, IOL Chemicals and Solara Active Pharma Sciences, then compressed and packaged at Haleon manufacturing sites in Lincoln, Nebraska; Guayama, Puerto Rico; and Dungarvan, Ireland.
The Parent Company
Haleon is the largest standalone consumer health company in the world by revenue, with brands including Advil, Sensodyne, Panadol, Voltaren, Centrum, Emergen-C, Robitussin, ChapStick and Tums.
Haleon was created out of a joint venture between GSK and Pfizer's consumer health businesses. Pfizer had contributed Advil to that venture in 2019 as part of a broader deal. When GSK demerged the JV in 2022, Haleon inherited Advil outright.
Pfizer retained a Haleon shareholding at spin-off and has been selling that stake down over time.
How Advil Started
Ibuprofen was discovered by a team at Boots (the UK pharmacy chain) in the 1960s. It was originally prescription only. The US Food and Drug Administration approved it for over the counter sale at 200 milligrams in 1984.
Advil was launched that same year in the United States by Whitehall Laboratories, then a division of American Home Products. American Home Products became Wyeth, Wyeth was acquired by Pfizer in 2009, and Pfizer moved Advil to the GSK joint venture in 2019.
The current Haleon ownership dates from July 2022, so the modern Advil supply chain is only a few years old under its present corporate roof.
Where Advil Is Made
Haleon's largest Advil manufacturing site is Lincoln, Nebraska, which handles tablets, caplets and Liqui-Gels for the US market. Guayama, Puerto Rico is a secondary US-serving site with capacity for both solid dose and liquid formats.
Dungarvan, Ireland supplies Advil (and Nurofen, its European sibling) to European and Middle East markets. Contract manufacturers in Canada and Mexico fill in regional demand.
Ibuprofen API mainly comes from BASF's Bishop, Texas plant and from IOL Chemicals in Punjab, India. Both are FDA-inspected facilities.
How Advil Differs From Nurofen And Motrin
Advil, Nurofen and Motrin all contain the same 200 milligram ibuprofen dose in their standard OTC forms. The differences are branding, packaging and geography.
Advil is the US brand (Haleon). Nurofen is the European and Australian sibling brand (also Haleon). Motrin is a separate brand owned by Kenvue and manufactured by McNeil Consumer Healthcare.
All of them are chemically interchangeable with generic ibuprofen sold under retailer labels like Equate, Up & Up and Kirkland Signature.
How Advil Compares To Rivals
Advil competes with Tylenol (acetaminophen, Kenvue), Aleve (naproxen sodium, Bayer) and store brand ibuprofen. Advil has held the number one spot in US analgesic sales for most of the past two decades, with Tylenol occasionally taking the lead during acetaminophen-focused advertising cycles.
Haleon prices Advil at a roughly 40 to 60 percent premium over private label ibuprofen. The premium is defended by brand trust, format variety (Advil Liqui-Gels, Advil Dual Action with acetaminophen, Advil PM) and pharmacist recommendation.
How To Trace Any Product Back To Its Manufacturer
- Read the fine print on the label. US and EU packaging law requires either the manufacturer name or a "distributed by" address. That is your starting point.
- Search the company's SEC filings. Public parent companies list subsidiaries and manufacturing sites in their 10-K annual reports.
- Check the FDA or USDA establishment number. For food, drugs and cosmetics, the plant of origin can often be looked up in public regulatory databases.
- Follow the money. Press releases about acquisitions and joint ventures are the fastest way to spot who really controls a brand today.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Advil the same as ibuprofen? Yes. Advil is a brand name for ibuprofen. At the same milligram strength any generic ibuprofen is chemically identical.
Who owned Advil before Haleon? Pfizer (via the 2009 Wyeth acquisition), and before that American Home Products through its Whitehall Laboratories division.
Is Advil American or British? The brand launched in the US in 1984 and is still made mostly in Nebraska and Puerto Rico. Its parent company Haleon is headquartered in Weybridge, United Kingdom.
Is Advil vegan? Standard Advil tablets are typically vegan, but Advil Liqui-Gels use a gelatin capsule and are not vegan. Check the label for the specific format.
What This Means For The Shopper
When you understand who actually makes Advil, a few practical shopping habits fall into place. First, corporate ownership tells you where product safety recalls and reformulations come from. Second, it tells you which store brand alternatives are chemically or functionally equivalent, because generic makers usually target the same reference product. Third, it explains pricing behavior: brands owned by big consumer conglomerates rarely drop below a floor price for long, because that floor protects a very large marketing and distribution investment.
Corporate ownership also shifts over time. The same brand you grew up with may be on its third or fourth parent company. That is why any answer to "who makes Advil" should be dated. The current parent listed on the label today is the one legally responsible for the product, regardless of the packaging design or advertising campaign you remember from years ago.
If you want to double check, the fastest confirmation is the label itself. Look for the "Distributed by" or "Manufactured by" line in the fine print. The company name and city on that line is the current legal manufacturer or distributor of Advil for your market, and that is the entity you would contact for a product complaint, safety concern or ingredient question.
What To Watch Going Forward
Consumer packaged goods ownership keeps consolidating. In the last five years alone, several major consumer health and beverage brands have moved between parent companies through spin-offs, sales and joint ventures. Expect more of the same over the next five years, especially as private equity and family holding companies continue to reshape mid-cap consumer brands.
If you buy Advil regularly and care about who profits from your purchase, it is worth checking the label every year or two. Ownership changes are usually announced in trade press but rarely make consumer headlines, so most shoppers miss them until the packaging gets a subtle redesign to reflect the new parent company.
Bottom Line
Advil is owned by Haleon, made in Nebraska, Puerto Rico and Ireland, and is chemically identical to any 200 milligram ibuprofen. You pay for the brand and the format, not for a different medicine.