Marion Merrell Dow
Encyclopedia
Marion Merrell Dow and its predecessor Marion Laboratories was a U.S.
pharmaceutical company based in Kansas City, Missouri
from 1950 until 1996.
The company specialized in bringing to market drugs that had been discovered but unmarketed by other companies including Cardizem (which slowed calcium
build up), Carafate (an ulcer
treatment), Gaviscon
(an antacid
), Seldane (antihistamine
), Nicorette
(anti-smoking gum) and Cepacol
mouthwash.
The company operating out of its headquarters at 9300 Ward Parkway was a springboard for its founder Ewing Marion Kauffman to start the Kansas City Royals
baseball team.
. Merrell expanded into the wholesale drug business. Following his death in 1880 his sons formed the William S. Merrell Chemical Company..
In the 1930s it merged with a company started by Lunsford Richardson
to become Richardson-Merrell. Richardson's most notable product was Vicks
VapoRub (named in honor of his brother-in-law Dr. Joshua Vick, a Selma, North Carolina
physcian.
into the US market in the 1950s and 1960s under the brand name "Kevadon". The drug was highly popular in Europe as a sedative
and antiemetic
for pregnant women suffering from morning sickness
. Richardson-Merrell submitted their new drug application (NDA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in June, 1960. During the application process, Richardson-Merrell heavily lobbied the FDA for quick approval of the drug, and distributed 2.5 million tablets of thalidomide to 1,200 American doctors with the understanding that the drug was under "investigation", a preemptive marketing loophole that was not then prohibited by existing regulations. Nearly 20,000 patients received the tablets. Reviewing pharmacologist Frances Oldham Kelsey
, who had joined the FDA just a month before the application's arrival, repeatedly denied the company's requests for permission to market the drug, citing an insufficient number of controlled studies to establish risks. When studies revealed that 10,000 children worldwide had been born with severe birth defects from the drug, Merrell withdrew its application and scrambled to recover any remaining unconsumed tablets from doctors offices around the country. Ultimately, 17 children in the United States were born with the defects. For correctly denying the application despite the pressure from Richardson-Merrell, Kelsey eventually received the President's Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service at a 1962 ceremony with President John F. Kennedy
.
.
At the time Marion Laboratories was outperforming all other drug company stocks by 2½ times.
Marion had the highest sales and the highest profit per employee of any company traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Dow's initial offer was $38 a share in cash, or $2.2 billion, for the 39 percent of Marion's 150 million shares with an option to raise the stake to 67 percent by 1992. The offer made 300 of Marion's employees millionaires. The deal created the fifth largest drug company in the United States in terms of sales.
, a former pharmaceutical salesman in Kansas City, Missouri
started the company in 1950 in the basement of his Kansas City home by selling calcium supplements made from crushed oyster
shells which he made in his home and starting with $4,000 in capital. Kauffman would say later he used his middle name for the company to avoid the impression that it was a one-person operation.
The company quickly took off. As Kauffman expanded he offered his employees share options and profit sharing
.
Rather than researching products, the company adopted a policy of buy products discovered by other companies and reformulating them for market.
In 1964 it formally incorporated at Marion Laboratories, Inc.
In the 1980s it marketed Silvadene (a burn cream), Ditropan (treatment for bladder
infections), Nitro-Bid (chest pain
treatment), Ard
and Bac-T-Screen (helped identify bacteria), Culturette (used to identify Group A streptococci) and ToxiLab, a drug detection system used to detect drug abuse
.
Although controlled by Dow the new company continued to trade on Marion Laboratories' old New York Stock Exchange
ticker symbol
"MKC."
of Germany announced plans to buy Dow's increased 71 percent share for $25.75 a share or $7.1 Billion—a profit of between $4 and $5 billion for Dow. Hoechst also bought the other outstanding shares. The deal created the world's second largest drug manufacturer at the time (behind Glaxo Wellcome and ahead of Merck & Company).
Hoechst's new pharmaceutical company became Hoechst Marion Roussel and kept its North American headquarters in Kansas City.
testing company Aventis
in 1999, and subsequently a part of the multinational pharmaceutical company Sanofi. Sanofi has sold off the original Marion Labs Kansas City plant at 10236 Marion Park Drive with Cerner Corporation buying the offices in 2006. In August 2009 the company announced its plans to close the remaining facility altogether.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
pharmaceutical company based in Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
from 1950 until 1996.
The company specialized in bringing to market drugs that had been discovered but unmarketed by other companies including Cardizem (which slowed calcium
Calcium
Calcium is the chemical element with the symbol Ca and atomic number 20. It has an atomic mass of 40.078 amu. Calcium is a soft gray alkaline earth metal, and is the fifth-most-abundant element by mass in the Earth's crust...
build up), Carafate (an ulcer
Peptic ulcer
A peptic ulcer, also known as PUD or peptic ulcer disease, is the most common ulcer of an area of the gastrointestinal tract that is usually acidic and thus extremely painful. It is defined as mucosal erosions equal to or greater than 0.5 cm...
treatment), Gaviscon
Gaviscon
Gaviscon is a non-prescription medication for the treatment of heartburn and GERD. It is produced and distributed in the UK by Reckitt Benckiser and by GlaxoSmithKline in the US and Canada.Gaviscon is taken to treat heartburn, similarly to other antacids...
(an antacid
Antacid
An antacid is a substance which neutralizes stomach acidity.-Mechanism of action:Antacids perform a neutralization reaction, increasing the pH to reduce acidity in the stomach. When gastric hydrochloric acid reaches the nerves in the gastrointestinal mucosa, they signal pain to the central nervous...
), Seldane (antihistamine
Histamine antagonist
A histamine antagonist, commonly referred to as antihistamine, is a pharmaceutical drug that inhibits action of histamine by blocking it from attaching to histamine receptors.- Clinical effects :...
), Nicorette
Nicorette
Nicorette is the brand name of a pharmaceutical preparation that contains nicotine for the treatment of tobacco dependence. Nicorette was the first medicinal preparation to facilitate smoking cessation....
(anti-smoking gum) and Cepacol
Cepacol
Cepacol , styled Cēpacol, is a brand of personal hygiene products and products for relief of sore throat.They were originally recognized for their yellow mouthwash, the active ingredient of which is Ceepryn , hence the name. The distinctive flavor and color is known as "Original Gold"...
mouthwash.
The company operating out of its headquarters at 9300 Ward Parkway was a springboard for its founder Ewing Marion Kauffman to start the Kansas City Royals
Kansas City Royals
The Kansas City Royals are a Major League Baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals are a member of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. From 1973 to the present, the Royals have played in Kauffman Stadium...
baseball team.
History
Richardson-Merrell
The company traces its roots back to 1828 when William S. Merrell opened the Western Market Drug Store at Sixth Street and Western Row (now Central Avenue) in downtown Cincinnati, OhioCincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...
. Merrell expanded into the wholesale drug business. Following his death in 1880 his sons formed the William S. Merrell Chemical Company..
In the 1930s it merged with a company started by Lunsford Richardson
Lunsford Richardson
Lunsford Richardson , 1854-1919, was a U.S. pharmacist from Selma, North Carolina, and the founder of Vick Chemical Company . He died August 20, 1919.-Early life:...
to become Richardson-Merrell. Richardson's most notable product was Vicks
Vicks
Vicks is a line of over-the-counter medications owned by the American company Procter & Gamble. Vicks manufactures NyQuil and its sister medication, DayQuil. The Vicks brand also produces Formula 44 cough medicines, cough drops, VapoRub, and a number of inhaled breathing treatments...
VapoRub (named in honor of his brother-in-law Dr. Joshua Vick, a Selma, North Carolina
Selma, North Carolina
Selma is a town in Johnston County, North Carolina, United States. In 2007, the estimated population was 7,008. Selma is located in North Carolina's Inner Banks region.-Geography:Selma is located at ....
physcian.
Thalidomide
One of Richardson-Merrell's best-known incidents revolved around its efforts to introduce thalidomideThalidomide
Thalidomide was introduced as a sedative drug in the late 1950s that was typically used to cure morning sickness. In 1961, it was withdrawn due to teratogenicity and neuropathy. There is now a growing clinical interest in thalidomide, and it is introduced as an immunomodulatory agent used...
into the US market in the 1950s and 1960s under the brand name "Kevadon". The drug was highly popular in Europe as a sedative
Sedative
A sedative or tranquilizer is a substance that induces sedation by reducing irritability or excitement....
and antiemetic
Antiemetic
An antiemetic is a drug that is effective against vomiting and nausea. Antiemetics are typically used to treat motion sickness and the side effects of opioid analgesics, general anaesthetics, and chemotherapy directed against cancer....
for pregnant women suffering from morning sickness
Morning sickness
Morning sickness, also called nausea gravidarum, nausea, vomiting of pregnancy , or pregnancy sickness is a condition that affects more than half of all pregnant women. Related to increased oestrogen levels, a similar form of nausea is also seen in some women who use hormonal contraception or...
. Richardson-Merrell submitted their new drug application (NDA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in June, 1960. During the application process, Richardson-Merrell heavily lobbied the FDA for quick approval of the drug, and distributed 2.5 million tablets of thalidomide to 1,200 American doctors with the understanding that the drug was under "investigation", a preemptive marketing loophole that was not then prohibited by existing regulations. Nearly 20,000 patients received the tablets. Reviewing pharmacologist Frances Oldham Kelsey
Frances Oldham Kelsey
Frances Kathleen Oldham Kelsey, Ph.D., M.D., is a pharmacologist, most famous as the reviewer for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration who refused to authorize thalidomide for market because she had concerns about the drug's safety. Her concerns proved to be justified when it was proven that...
, who had joined the FDA just a month before the application's arrival, repeatedly denied the company's requests for permission to market the drug, citing an insufficient number of controlled studies to establish risks. When studies revealed that 10,000 children worldwide had been born with severe birth defects from the drug, Merrell withdrew its application and scrambled to recover any remaining unconsumed tablets from doctors offices around the country. Ultimately, 17 children in the United States were born with the defects. For correctly denying the application despite the pressure from Richardson-Merrell, Kelsey eventually received the President's Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service at a 1962 ceremony with President John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
.
Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals
Dow Chemical acquired controlling interest of the Richardson-Merrell company in 1980 and the company became Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals. The Vicks brand (along with the Richardson name) was spun off to Procter & GambleProcter & Gamble
Procter & Gamble is a Fortune 500 American multinational corporation headquartered in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio and manufactures a wide range of consumer goods....
.
U.S. Supreme Court Cases
In the U.S., Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals was a named party in at least two major United States Supreme Court cases:- Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc. v. ThompsonMerrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc. v. ThompsonMerrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc. v. Thompson, 478 U.S. 804 , was a United States Supreme Court decision involving the original jurisdiction of the federal district courts under 28 U.S.C...
, 478 U.S. 804 (1986), involving original jurisdiction - Daubert v. Merrell Dow PharmaceuticalsDaubert v. Merrell Dow PharmaceuticalsDaubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, is a United States Supreme Court case determining the standard for admitting expert testimony in federal courts...
509 U.S. 579 (1993), applied the rules governing expert testimony established by the Federal Rules of Evidence to the admission of scientific evidence at trials conducted in federal courts
Marion Merrell Dow
In 1989 Dow Chemical acquired 67 percent interest of Marion Laboratories, which was renamed Marion Merrell Dow. Among the products Merrell Dow brought that would be shortly marketed were Seldane, Lorelco, Nicorette and Cepacol. The merger was considered a good fit because of Marion Laboratories strong sales force and Merrell Dow's strong research and development capabilities.At the time Marion Laboratories was outperforming all other drug company stocks by 2½ times.
Marion had the highest sales and the highest profit per employee of any company traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Dow's initial offer was $38 a share in cash, or $2.2 billion, for the 39 percent of Marion's 150 million shares with an option to raise the stake to 67 percent by 1992. The offer made 300 of Marion's employees millionaires. The deal created the fifth largest drug company in the United States in terms of sales.
Marion Laboratories
Ewing KauffmanEwing Kauffman
Ewing Marion Kauffman was an American pharmaceutical magnate, philanthropist, and Major League Baseball owner....
, a former pharmaceutical salesman in Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
started the company in 1950 in the basement of his Kansas City home by selling calcium supplements made from crushed oyster
Oyster
The word oyster is used as a common name for a number of distinct groups of bivalve molluscs which live in marine or brackish habitats. The valves are highly calcified....
shells which he made in his home and starting with $4,000 in capital. Kauffman would say later he used his middle name for the company to avoid the impression that it was a one-person operation.
The company quickly took off. As Kauffman expanded he offered his employees share options and profit sharing
Profit sharing
Profit sharing, when used as a special term, refers to various incentive plans introduced by businesses that provide direct or indirect payments to employees that depend on company's profitability in addition to employees' regular salary and bonuses...
.
Rather than researching products, the company adopted a policy of buy products discovered by other companies and reformulating them for market.
In 1964 it formally incorporated at Marion Laboratories, Inc.
In the 1980s it marketed Silvadene (a burn cream), Ditropan (treatment for bladder
Bladder
Bladder usually refers to an anatomical hollow organBladder may also refer to:-Biology:* Urinary bladder in humans** Urinary bladder ** Bladder control; see Urinary incontinence** Artificial urinary bladder, in humans...
infections), Nitro-Bid (chest pain
Chest pain
Chest pain may be a symptom of a number of serious conditions and is generally considered a medical emergency. Even though it may be determined that the pain is non-cardiac in origin, this is often a diagnosis of exclusion made after ruling out more serious causes of the pain.-Differential...
treatment), Ard
Ard
The ard or scratch plough is a type of simple plough. It consists of a frame mounting a nearly vertical wooden spike, which is dragged through the soil by draught animals. Rather than cutting and turning the soil to produce furrows, it breaks up a narrow strip of soil, leaving intervening strips...
and Bac-T-Screen (helped identify bacteria), Culturette (used to identify Group A streptococci) and ToxiLab, a drug detection system used to detect drug abuse
Drug abuse
Substance abuse, also known as drug abuse, refers to a maladaptive pattern of use of a substance that is not considered dependent. The term "drug abuse" does not exclude dependency, but is otherwise used in a similar manner in nonmedical contexts...
.
Although controlled by Dow the new company continued to trade on Marion Laboratories' old New York Stock Exchange
New York Stock Exchange
The New York Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located at 11 Wall Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City, USA. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed companies at 13.39 trillion as of Dec 2010...
ticker symbol
Ticker symbol
A stock symbol or ticker symbol is a short abbreviation used to uniquely identify publicly traded shares of a particular stock on a particular stock market. A stock symbol may consist of letters, numbers or a combination of both. "Ticker symbol" refers to the symbols that were printed on the ticker...
"MKC."
Hoechst Marion Roussel
In 1995 Hoechst AGHoechst AG
Hoechst AG was a German chemicals then life-sciences company that became Aventis Deutschland after its merger with France's Rhône-Poulenc S.A. in 1999...
of Germany announced plans to buy Dow's increased 71 percent share for $25.75 a share or $7.1 Billion—a profit of between $4 and $5 billion for Dow. Hoechst also bought the other outstanding shares. The deal created the world's second largest drug manufacturer at the time (behind Glaxo Wellcome and ahead of Merck & Company).
Hoechst's new pharmaceutical company became Hoechst Marion Roussel and kept its North American headquarters in Kansas City.
Sanofi
Hoechst in turn later became part of the pharmaceutical and lab assayAssay
An assay is a procedure in molecular biology for testing or measuring the activity of a drug or biochemical in an organism or organic sample. A quantitative assay may also measure the amount of a substance in a sample. Bioassays and immunoassays are among the many varieties of specialized...
testing company Aventis
Aventis
Aventis was a pharmaceutical and lab assay testing company. It was formed in 1999 when Rhône-Poulenc S.A. merged with Hoechst AG. The merged company was based in Strasbourg, France. With its headquarters in Strasbourg, Aventis was the product of the first transnational merger to combine large...
in 1999, and subsequently a part of the multinational pharmaceutical company Sanofi. Sanofi has sold off the original Marion Labs Kansas City plant at 10236 Marion Park Drive with Cerner Corporation buying the offices in 2006. In August 2009 the company announced its plans to close the remaining facility altogether.