Our history

Merck & Co. was founded in the U.S. on January 1, 1891. George Merck, age 23, established the company to distribute fine chemicals throughout New York City and the neighboring areas.

The first Merck Manual was published in 1899. Treatments in the first manual included bloodletting for acute bronchitis, arsenic for impotence and almond bread for diabetes. The Merck Manual went on to become one of the most widely used medical references.

George Merck's son, George W. Merck, began his career in the packing and shipping department in 1914, and he received training in most branches of the business. He would lead Merck through the 1927 merger with Powers-Weightman-Rosengarten Co. and turned his attention toward building Merck's research capacity, catalyzing the company's reputation for innovation.

The Merck Research Laboratory was founded in Rahway, New Jersey. The laboratory represented Merck's initial foray into pharmacological research and included three separate divisions: Pure Research, the Merck Institute for Therapeutic Research and Applied Research.

Merck first synthesized vitamin B₁ and published the results in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. The development allowed for mass production of the vitamin, and within a few years, the product had contributed to the reduction of vitamin B₁ deficiency (beriberi). In subsequent years, Merck's management committed the company to isolating and synthesizing vitamins and making them more widely available.

In a defining moment for the company, George W. Merck gave a talk at the Medical College of Virginia at Richmond, during which he made a famous statement about how the medical and pharmaceutical community could be successful:

"We try to remember that medicine is for the patient. We try never to forget that medicine is for the people. It is not for the profits. The profits follow, and if we have remembered that, they have never failed to appear."

This philosophy is embraced by our leaders and employees to this day.

The merger brought together Merck's extensive chemical research and manufacturing facilities with Sharp & Dohme's pharmaceutical development, marketing expertise and international presence. Sharp & Dohme's West Point, Pennsylvania facilities were included in the merger.

Merck established the Merck Company Foundation, a nonprofit corporation dedicated to charitable giving, with an initial contribution of $500,000. To date, the Merck Foundation has contributed hundreds of millions of dollars to nonprofit organizations.

The release of DIURIL (chlorothiazide) signaled the company's emergence as a leading cardiovascular company. Since the introduction of DIURIL, we have been at the forefront of developing new treatments to fight high blood pressure and heart disease. The “Diuril Man,” a transparent plastic figurine showing the heart, lungs, kidneys, ureters and bladder, helped Merck show physicians the value of the breakthrough product.

In humans, trichinosis (caused by eating raw or undercooked meat) can cause high fever, muscle pain and swelling and other serious symptoms. In 1961, a Merck research team led by Dr. William Campbell discovered thiabendazole, the first drug known to kill the trichinella parasite in sheep, goat, cattle and pigs. When the reindeer populations of the Arctic Circle became severely afflicted by parasitic infections, Merck scientists traveled north to treat them with THIBENZOLE (thiabendazole), a deworming agent.

The treatment not only helped protect the reindeer, but also the indigenous peoples who depended on them for survival.

Merck began distributing a combined measles-mumps-rubella (M-M-R) vaccine that was developed by Drs. Maurice Hilleman and Eugene B. Buynak. M-M-R was composed of three vaccines: ATTENUVAX, an updated version of Merck's measles vaccine; MERUVAX, a rubella vaccine; and MUMPSVAX, Merck's mumps vaccine.

PNEUMOVAX (pneumococcal vaccine polyvalent), Merck's pneumonia vaccine, was approved. Research and development of the vaccine was carried out under the direction of Dr. Maurice Hilleman.

MEFOXIN was indicated for the treatment of many infections caused by certain bacteria, including gram-positive and gram-negative pathogens.

Merck introduced lovastatin, the first of the statin family of medicines to be approved by the FDA. It emerged from decades of study by scientists in the U.S. and abroad, at universities, independent laboratories and at Merck.

In 1987, Merck CEO Dr. Roy Vagelos announced Merck's commitment to donate Mectizan - as much as needed for as long as needed - with the goal to help eliminate river blindness. In order to reach this goal, Merck leaders recognized that many organizations with unique skills would need to work together as a team. Thus, the Mectizan Donation Program (MDP) was created as a ground-breaking public-private partnership that becomes influential in the development of a number of other drug donation programs.

CRIXIVAN (INDINAVIR SULFATE), for the treatment of HIV, was approved by the FDA after a review period of 42 days. Prior to the FDA approval in 1995, in conjunction with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, patients and HIV advocacy groups, Merck decided to offer the Crixivan Program. Through this program, Merck made the drug available at no cost to selective patients before it was commercially available.

SINGULAIR (montelukast sodium) was approved by the FDA for the prevention and treatment of asthma. It was the product of nearly twenty years of research conducted at our Merck Frosst discovery hub in Kirkland, Canada, into a new class of asthma medicines called leukotriene blockers.

The FDA approved JANUVIA (sitagliptin), a DPP-4 inhibitor approved to treat Type 2 diabetes.

The FDA approved Merck's GARDASIL [human papillomavirus quadrivalent (types 6, 11, 16, 18) vaccine, recombinant] for the prevention of cervical cancer caused by certain HPV types.

In 2007, Merck committed to donating 3 million doses of GARDASIL over 5 years to support vaccination programs in the world's lowest-income nations.

Merck and Schering-Plough completed a merger and began combined operations. The purchase made the company the second largest pharmaceutical company in United States by revenue.

From Guinea to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the world was dealing with the largest and most complex Ebola outbreaks since the virus was first discovered in 1976. As the outbreaks remained a global health challenge, scientists from Merck, along with numerous external collaborators from all sectors, remained at the forefront of the efforts to address this deadly disease.

Merck received FDA approval for ERVEBO® (Ebola Zaire Vaccine, Live) for the prevention of disease caused by Zaire ebolavirus in individuals 18 years of age and older.