History of Merck Pharmaceuticals
Merck is an American-based international pharmaceutical company that focuses on innovative research and consumer education. Throughout the company's history, which spans almost 350 years, Merck has maintained a positive reputation as a trustworthy and ambitious producer of drugs. Due to myriad mergers over the years and the company's longevity, today Merck is one of the top three pharmaceutical companies in the world by production volume.
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Origins
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Merck's origins are in 17th-century Germany, where Friedrich Jacob Merck purchased an apothecary business in 1668. The original apothecary shop was located south of Frankfurt in a town called Darmstadt, and the business stayed in the family for several generations after Friedrich died. In 1827, Friedrich's descendant Heinrich Emmanuel Merck shifted the Merck family business away from merely selling drugs to manufacturing them. Early products included codeine, cocaine, and morphine. Heinrich also renamed the business to E. Merck AG, and products from the company were sold under this name until the company moved its base to the United States in 1903.
American Move
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Products manufactured by E. Merck AG were first sold in the United States in 1887. Theodore Weicker was sent as a representative to open the first offices in the United States, and four years after he set up shop George Merck, Heinrich's grandson, joined him to expand the business. Over the next eight years, Merck and Weicker expanded brand recognition in the States and constructed a massive production plan on 150 acres of land in New Jersey. They also commissioned the creation of "The Merck Manual," the first general medical text that listed all known symptoms, drugs and therapies in one volume. The first edition was published under the title "The Merck Manual of Materia Medica" in 1899 and continues to be updated today. In 1903, the U.S. name of the company officially changed to Merck and Company.
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World War I and Post-War Years
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When the United States entered World War I against Germany, George Merck yielded part of his stake in the company to the U.S. government to show his patriotism. In 1919 entire control was returned to Merck, and he was recognized for this gesture. The company flourished in the postwar years of the 1920s and 1930s, experiencing a massive merger in 1927 with the pharmaceutical giant Powers-Weightman-Rosengarten and the formal incorporation of Merck and Co. With profits exceeding $13 million in the final years of the 1920s, Merck had the capital to open a laboratory in 1933, where research led quickly to identifying the essential vitamin B12.
Merck Laboratories and Mergers
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After World War II, Merck laboratories continued to pioneer research--synthesizing cortisone and isolating the antibiotic strepromycin were among the discoveries. However, foreign competition and a lack of new consumer products threatened the strength of the company, in turn encouraging the merger with their competitor Sharp and Dohme, Inc. In 1965, control of the company shifted for the first time to a non-Merck family member when Henry Gadsen became CEO. Under Gadsen, many smaller pharmaceutical companies were brought into the Merck family, including Calgon, Kelco, and Aircoil. By the 1980s, Merck was the largest producer of drugs for the major markets of the United States, Europe. and Japan.
Merck Today
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Today Merck employs over 55,000 and produces some of the most well-known pharmaceutical products on the market, including Singulair and Gardasil. The company's intererests range from pharmaceuticals, vaccines and veterinary health to consumer education. Merck reported 2008 earnings as almost $24 billion, with the predominant profits made in the United States.
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