When was merck incorporated

In , the company shared its findings regarding the treatment of human immunodeficiency virus HIV with competitors. These efforts reflected George W. Merck's assertion: 'Medicine is for the patients. It is not for the profits.

The profits follow, and if we have remembered that, they have never failed to appear. The better we have remembered it, the larger they have been. Growth did slow in the early s, however, as Merck's drug pipeline dried up. Although the company maintained the broadest product line in the industry, its stable of new drugs was conspicuously absent of the 'blockbusters' that had characterized the previous decade, with one exception.

In the meantime, Merck entered into a number of joint ventures that created alternative avenues of product development.

Two years later Merck and E. Merck and Connaught Laboratories, Inc. In Merck created a venture with a related company, Pasteur Merieux Connaught which was also later part of Aventis S. The acquired company soon was renamed Merck-Medco Managed Care.

The wisdom of the purchase was debated among analysts. On one hand, it was regarded as making Merck more competitive in a U. The Medco acquisition also complicated Vagelos's plans for a successor. Vagelos's choice, Richard J.

Markham, resigned unexpectedly in mid, just months before the CEO's anticipated retirement. Some observers speculated that year-old Wygod, with his cost-cutting tendencies and marketing forte, was a likely successor, but he, too, resigned in March In the end, other internal candidates were bypassed as well in favor of the company's first outsider in Merck history to take the top job, Raymond V.

Although Vagelos had built Merck into its position of industry preeminence by the time of his retirement, the entire pharmaceutical sector was in upheaval stemming from the growth of managed care. Sales and earnings growth were on the decline. Industry pressure resulted in large mergers that created Glaxo Wellcome plc and Novartis AG and toppled Merck from its position as the world's biggest drugmaker to a tie for third place with Germany's Hoechst Marion Roussel.

Merck also was suffering from the difficult 18 months it took to find Vagelos's successor and the 'turf-conscious, defection-ridden' culture so described by Business Week 's Joseph Weber that Vagelos left behind. One of Gilmartin's first major tasks, then, was to restructure the company's management team. In September he set up a member management committee to help him run the company and plot strategies for growth.

The management team included sales executives in Europe and Asia, the heads of the veterinary and vaccine divisions, the president of Merck-Medco, and executives from the research, manufacturing, finance, and legal areas. The creation of this committee helped to streamline and flatten Merck's organizational structure, fostered a greater degree of company teamwork, and halted the exodus of top managers that occurred during the Vagelos succession.

One of the management committee's first acts was to create a mission statement for Merck, which affirmed that the company was primarily a research-driven pharmaceutical company. Gilmartin then launched a divestment program, which jettisoned several noncore units, including a generic-drug operation and a managed mental-health care unit. These sales also helped Merck pay down the debt it incurred in acquiring Medco, a unit that Gilmartin retained. There were also two significant divestments in the late s.

In July Merck sold its half-interest in its joint venture with E. Merck also restructured its animal health unit by combining it with that of Rhone-Poulenc S. At the end of the s Merial stood as the world's largest firm focusing on the discovery, manufacture, and marketing of veterinary pharmaceuticals and vaccines.

By that time, Merck's partner in Merial was Aventis S. Another joint venture--the one formed with Astra in was restructured in the late s. This venture's biggest success came with the December approval of Prilosec for the treatment of ulcers and heartburn. Prilosec went on to become a blockbuster. In July Merck and Astra agreed to transform the joint venture into a new limited partnership in which Merck would have no management control but would hold a limited partnership interest and receive royalty payments.

From through , Merck introduced a total of 15 new drugs. Gilmartin helped bring these new products to market, but credit for developing them fell to Dr. Edward M. Scolnick, the research chief under Vagelos who stayed with the firm even though he had vied to succeed Vagelos.

Within 18 months of Gilmartin's arrival, Merck had launched a record eight drugs, including Crixivan, a protease inhibitor used in the treatment of HIV; Fosamax, used to treat osteoporosis; and hypertension medication Cozaar.

As the s continued, Merck faced the specter of the expiration of patent protection for some of its biggest-selling products--Vasotec and Pepcid were slated to expire in , Mevacor and Prilosec in Under intense pressure to replace this--at least potentially--lost revenue, Merck continued its torrid pace of product debuts. In the company introduced a record five drugs: Singulair for asthma, Maxalt for migraine headaches, Aggrastat for acute coronary syndrome, Propecia for hair loss, and Cosopt for glaucoma.

Merck managed only one drug introduction in , but it was a blockbuster. Making its U. Cox-2, an enzyme present in various diseases, was blocked by the new drugs. As a treatment for arthritis, Vioxx was noteworthy for being effective while not irritating the stomach. Despite being second to market behind G. Merck headed into the uncertainty of the early 21st century riding a triumphant wave. In addition to its successful introduction of Vioxx, the company was heartened by the continued strength of its top-selling drug, Zocor, which was gaining market share despite intense competition, particularly from Warner-Lambert Company's Lipitor.

This ranking was unlikely to last, however, thanks to two proposed mergers expected to close in the U. Merck's Gilmartin stated that he had no interest in such a merger, despite the looming patent expirations.

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