History
The roots of Merck reach back into the 17th Century. In 1668, Friedrich Jacob Merck, an apothecary, assumed ownership of the Engel-Apotheke ("Angel Pharmacy") in Darmstadt, Germany.
In 1816, Emanuel Merck took over the pharmacy. Thanks to his scientific education he was successful in isolating and characterizing alkaloids in the pharmacy laboratory. He began the manufacture of these substances "in bulk" in 1827, touting them as a "Cabinet of Pharmaceutical and Chemical Innovations". He and his successors gradually built up a chemical-pharmaceutical factory that produced — in addition to raw materials for pharmaceutical preparations — a multitude of other chemicals and (from 1890) medicines.
In 1891, Georg(e) Merck established himself in the United States and set up Merck & Co. in New York. Merck & Co. was confiscated following the First World War. and set up as an independent company in the United States. Today, the US company has about 86,000 employees (December 2011) in 120 countries. It is one of the top 5 pharmaceutical companies worldwide, larger than its German ancestor, which employs around 40,700 people in 67 countries (December 2011).
Merck Korea received the "Leading Investor Award" at the 5th Korea-EU Industrial Cooperation Day in 2011.
Read more about this topic: Merck KGaA
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