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Public | |
Traded as | |
Industry | Pharmaceuticals |
Founded | 1891 as a subsidiary of Merck (founded 1668) 1917 as an independent company |
Founders | George Merck |
Headquarters | Kenilworth, New Jersey, United States |
Area served
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Worldwide |
Key people
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Kenneth Frazier (Chairman, President and CEO) |
Products |
Gardasil Singulair Propecia/Proscar Zocor Vioxx Fosamax Keytruda Januvia Primaxin |
Revenue | US$39.498 billion (2015) |
US$6.928 billion (2015) | |
US$4.442 billion (2015) | |
Total assets | US$98.335 billion (2015) |
Total equity | US$48.647 billion (2015) |
Number of employees
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70,000 (2015) |
Website | Merck |
Merck & Co., Inc. (: MRK), d.b.a. Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD) outside the United States and Canada, is an American pharmaceutical company and one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world.
The company was established in 1891 as the United States subsidiary of the German company Merck, which was founded in 1668 by the Merck family. Merck & Co. was nationalized by the US government during World War I and subsequently established as an independent American company in 1917. While it operates as Merck & Co. in North America, the original Merck based in Darmstadt holds the rights to the Merck name everywhere else. Merck & Co. is the world's seventh largest pharmaceutical company by market capitalization and revenue. Its headquarters is located in Kenilworth, New Jersey.
Merck & Co. publishes The Merck Manuals, a series of medical reference books for physicians, nurses, and technicians. These include the Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy, the world's best-selling medical reference. The Merck Index, a compendium of chemical compounds, was formerly published by Merck & Co. before being acquired by the Royal Society of Chemistry in 2012.
Merck & Co. traces its origins to its original German parent company Merck, which was established by the Merck family in 1668 when Jacob Friedrich Merck purchased a drug store in Darmstadt. In the 19th century, the Merck company in Darmstadt evolved from a pharmacy to a major pharmaceutical company which pioneered the commercial manufacture of morphine.