Merck is not the same as Merck

The two are confused again and again – and yet the direct association between Merck´KGaA in Darmstadt and the U.S. pharmaceutical company Merck & Co., Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, ended a long time ago. Merck in Darmstadt is the oldest pharmaceutical and chemical company in the world – and still operates successfully today in both the pharmaceutical and chemical sectors. Merck & Co. became an independent company after World War I.

Our historical roots lie in Darmstadt, where Friedrich Jacob Merck acquired the Engel-Apotheke (“Angel Pharmacy”) in 1668. In 1827, Heinrich Emanuel Merck began the industrial-scale production of alkaloids, plant extracts and other chemicals. The successful export business in the United States led in 1887 to the establishment of a subsidiary in New York. Under Georg Merck, a grandson of Heinrich Emanuel Merck, Merck & Co. was formed in 1891. Following the confiscation of properties that took place as a result of World War I, Merck & Co. became an independent American company.

The two companies are no longer linked to one another today – the only thing they still have in common is the name Merck. Merck & Co. holds the rights to the name within North America; outside this region the U.S. company operates as Merck Sharp and Dohme (MSD) or MSD Sharp & Dohme. Merck KGaA, in turn, holds the rights elsewhere in the world and operates in North America under the umbrella brand EMD, formed from the initials of Emanuel Merck, Darmstadt.