Bristol-Myers Squibb Company

Bristol-Myers Squibb is a global biopharma company that focuses on the discovery and development of innovative medicines. The long history of Bristol-Myers started in 1887 when William McLaren Bristol and John Ripley Myers bought the former Clinton Pharmaceuticals.

Clinton Pharmaceutical was a failing drug manufacturing firm located in Clinton, New York, when Bristol and Myers invested $5,000 in the company in 1887.

The company remained Clinton Pharmaceuticals until May of 1898 when it was renamed Bristol, Myers Company, and the following the death of Myers in 1899, became Bristol-Myers Corporation.

Early on, the company’s top sellers included products such as mineral salts and toothpaste. By 1924, Bristol’s earnings had surpassed the $1 million mark, and five years later, the c0mpany went public.

After World War II, Bristol-Myers became more diversified over four decades buying up companies such as Mead Johnson, Clairol, Drackett, and Zimmer.

Squibb, too, traces its roots back it the 19th century having founded by Edward Squibb in 1858. Unlike Bristol-Myers though, whose history began with consumer-oriented personal care products, Squibb’s early expertise was in chemistry.

The merger between Bristol-Myers and Squibb Corporation took place in 1989. The merger created Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, which was then the world’s second-largest pharmaceutical enterprise. In the early 1990s, Bristol-Myers Squibb made headlines with their experimental cancer drug Taxol.

In 2001 the company announces the purchase of DuPont Pharmaceuticals Company for $7.8 billion, with the intention of further strengthening Bristol-Myers Squibb’s medicines business.
Bristol-Myers Squibb Company