Merck & Company is one of the largest providers of pharmaceuticals in the world. The company first began in 1851 when Dr. Ernst Christian Friedrich Schering began creating and selling medicines in Berlin. In 1891 the firm opened as Merck & Co. in the United States. The US subsidiary’s parent company, E. Merck, was actually originally founded over 200 years before in Darnstadt Germany, in 1668.
The company publishes the indispensable Merck Manuel, which helps pharmacists and physicians all over the world identify the properties of all medicines available. The Merck Manuel was first published in 1899, and comes out in 17 different languages. In 1944, in collaboration with researchers at Merck and Rutgers University, streptomycin was discovered. Cortisone was also synthesized at Merck for the first time that same year.
In 1963 Merck introduced the first vaccine against the measles virus, and in 1964 a vaccine against mumps was also introduced.
Related Links: