Pharmaceutical companies Merck

If sedatives, barbiturates, antipsychotic drugs, stimulants, opiates and thyroid medications all outperform inert placebos in the treatment of depression, does this mean that any active drug can function as an antidepressant Apparently not. In September 1998 the pharmaceutical company Merck announced the discovery of a novel antidepressant with a completely different mode of action than other medications for depression. This new drug, which they later marketed under the trade name Emend for the prevention of nausea and vomiting due to chemotherapy, seemed to show considerable promise as an antidepressant in... 

MDMA s history dates to the early years of the 20th century when researchers at the German pharmaceutical company Merck discovered the compound and a number of related amphetamine analogs, including 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA) and 3,4-methyl-enedioxy-N-ethylamphetamine (MDEA). Merck s research began as an attempt to discover a substance that could be used as a vasoconstrictor, a substance that causes a narrowing of blood vessels and can be used to reduce bleeding. 

In 1912 the German pharmaceutical company Merck first synthesized and patented a compound called 3,4-methylenedioxymetham-phetamine, or MDMA for short. At the time, many new chemicals were synthesized in the hopes that they might be usefiil in future research. MDMA, as an amphetamine-derivative, had potential as a diet drug. However, like many other compounds, research on MDMA was soon abandoned by Merck. Many pharmaceutical companies at that time applied for and received patents on everything they synthesized, just in case the compound was ever found to be useful or in case they ever decided to do more research on the compound. Many of these chemical products, like MDMA, did not show enough promise to be investigated further, and thus research was abandoned. 

Merck Sharp Dohme Ltd., part of Merck Co., Inc., Whitehouse Station, NJ, USA is one of the world s leading pharmaceutical companies. Merck discovers, manufactures, and markets a broad range of products to improve human health, and has an unparalleled reputation for innovative research. 

Several pharmaceutical companies (Merck, Sharp and Dohme Smith, Kline and French and Schering Corp.) have applied the IBM 101 electronic statistical machine to literature searching (8, p. 232 41 49, p. 240). The number of columns which may be searched simultaneously depends upon the number of punches appearing in a single column, but as many as 60 columns may be examined at one pass of the cards. The 101 is a versatile machine which cuts down the searching time as compared with the simple sorter. A similar machine called ILAS was developed for searching coded steroid structures (49, p. 447) in the U. S. Patent OflBce. 

The search for an effective non-peptide oxytocin antagonist has become a major goal of a number of pharmaceutical companies because of the poor pharmacokinetic properties and especially the lack of oral bioavailability associated with peptidic antagonists. Early research in this field was dominated by Merck, but in recent years significant research efforts at GlaxoSmithKline and Serono have been published. A number of other companies, notably Sanofi-Aventis, Yamanouchi and Wyeth, have had a major presence in vasopressin receptor research and oxytocin is frequently included in patent claims for the molecules. Occasionally, oxytocin-selective compounds have been reported, usually derived by adaptation of the vasopressin antagonist template. 

Some optimization of the original Medidnal route was reported from the DuPont Merck Pharmaceutical Company Radesca, LA., Lo, Y.S., Moore,... 

Once the cocaine has been legally produced from the coca leaf, it is exported to various countries for medicinal use, basically as a topical local anesthetic (applied to the surface, not injected, only treating a particular area). In the United States the crystalline powder is imported to pharmaceutical companies who process and package the cocaine for medical use. Merck Pharmaceutical Company and Mallinckrodt Chemical Works distribute cocaine in crystalline form (Hydrochloride Salt) in dark colored glass bottles to pharmacies and hospitals throughout the United States. Cocaine, in the alkaloid form (base drug containing no additives such as hydrochloride in the crystalline form) is rarely used for medicinal purposes. Cocaine hydrochloride crystals or flakes come in Vs, A and 1 ounce bottles from the manufacturer and has a wholesale price of approximately 20 to 25 per ounce (100% pure). 

There are five basic sources of pharmaceuticals. By dollar value of products, fermentation is probably the most important, whereas by tonnage, chemical synthesis is dominant. Fermentation is used for antibiotics such as penicillins and tetracyclines. Chemical synthesis provides drugs such as the psychotropics and antihistamines. Animal extracts provide hormones. Biological sources lead to vaccines and serums. Vegetable extracts provide steroids and alkaloids. The top ten pharmaceutical companies in order of revenues are the following Merck, Pfizer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Johnson ... 

Christopher T. Riley Experimental Station, DuPont Merck Pharmaceutical Company, P.O. Box 80400, Wilmington, DE 19880-0400, USA... 

Second, natural products from endangered plants are scarcely known just because ofthe rarity and protection of the species. Protection is extended towards commercial exploitation, vsdiich deters pharmaceutical companies from undertaking any study of the plants. The agreement between Merck and Costa Rica for examining the local flora is an exception, but the results remain under corporate secrecy. 

MICHAEL LEVIN is President and CEO, Metropolitan Computing Corporation (MCC), East Hanover, New Jersey, specializing in process analytical instrumentation as well as data acquisition and control systems for tablet presses, mixers, roller compactors, and other equipment. Prior to forming MCC in 1985, he was a consultant to pharmaceutical companies such as Merck, Sandoz, and Warner-Lambert. A member of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists, the International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering, and the Biomedical Engineering Society, Dr. Levin received the Ph.D. degree (1985) in biomathematics from the University of Washington, Seattle. 

March 9 Merck and Schering-Plough announce a merger, making the combined company one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. Merck pays 41.1 billion for the smaller company. 

Hawthorne, Fran. The Merck Druggernaut The Inside Story of a Pharmaceutical Giant. Hoboken, N.J. Wiley, 2003. The author, a business journalist, has praise for this pharmaceutical company. It has a reputation for ethical practices and devotion to research and development. However, the author also describes the problems of declining profits, intense competition, and the complexity of discovering new drugs that the company and the drug industry must face. 

The Green Chemistry Institute (GCl) Pharmaceutical Roundtable has used the Process Mass Intensity (PMl) [12], defined as the total mass used in a process divided by the mass of product (i.e. PMl = E factor -i- 1) to benchmark the environmental acceptability of processes used by its members (see the GCl website). The latter include several leading pharmaceutical companies (Eh Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer, Merck, AstraZeneca, Schering-Plow, and Johnson Johnson). The aim was to use this data to drive the greening of the pharmaceutical industry. We believe, however, that the E factor is to be preferred over the PMl since the ideal E factor of 0 is a better reflection of the goal of zero waste. 

Company Merck Co., Inc. Zeneca Pharmaceuticals Merck Co., Inc. Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. 

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