Product Details

Historical Context

Plough, Incorporated was founded by the Memphis, Tennessee area entrepreneur Abe Plough (1892–1984) in 1908. He borrowed $125 from his father to start the business at age sixteen. As a one-man business, he mixed "Plough's Antiseptic Healing Oil," a "sure cure for any ill of man or beast," and sold it off a horse-drawn buggy.

Plough's acquisitions included St Joseph's Aspirin for children, Maybelline cosmetics, and Coppertone skin care products. Plough also had a broadcasting division, operating radio stations in Atlanta, Georgia; Baltimore, Maryland; Boston, Massachusetts; Chicago, Illinois; and Memphis, Tennessee.

Following the entry of the United States into World War II in 1941, U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt ordered Schering AG's U.S. assets be seized. These became the Schering Corporation. The company was placed under a government administratorship until 1952, when it was released and its assets sold to the private sector.

In 1957, Schering acquired White Laboratories.

In 1971, the Schering Corporation merged with Plough, Inc. At the time of the merger, Abe Plough became Chairman of the combined company.

In 2000, Schering Plough bought a new campus in Summit, New Jersey from Novartis.

On March 9, 2009 it was announced that Schering-Plough and Merck were to merge. On November 4, 2009 Schering-Plough merged with Merck & Co. and through a reverse merger Merck became a subsidiary of Schering-Plough, which renamed itself Merck.

The company is probably best known as the manufacturer of Claritin (antihistamine), Coppertone sunscreen products and Afrin (nasal decongestant.)

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