Bayer AG began marketing in the United States soon after the company's inception in Germany. In the late 1800s, they began to sell their trademark medication, aspirin. While the name "aspirin" became synonymous with Bayer for over a quarter of a century, the company lost the trademark on the name in the United States during World War I, due to the company's German origin. The word is still trademarked in other countries.
In 1954, Bayer AG and Monsanto reached an agreement for establishment of a joint venture that was to be called Mobay. Initially established in St. Louis, Mobay established its headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1958, moving to a location in Robinson Township in 1960. A polyurethanes manufacturing site in New Martinsville, West Virginia began operation in 1955. In 1964 the United States Department of Justice brought antitrust action against Mobay, resulting in Bayer AG reaching an agreement to purchase Monsanto's share of the company in 1967. In October 1971 Mobay, along with five other Bayer-owned chemical-related subsidiaries in the United States, merged into a single company called Baychem Chemical Company and headquartered in New York City. By 1974 the company relocated to Pittsburgh under the name Mobay Chemical Company. In that same decade two additional United States companies were acquired and merged into Mobay: Cutter Laboratories in 1974 and Miles Laboratories in 1978. In 1992 Bayer consolidated its United States operations under the name Miles, and the Mobay name was discontinued. In 1994, Bayer reacquired full rights to all former Bayer products after they purchased the Winthrop division of over-the-counter drugs from GlaxoSmithKline, and the Miles name was discontinued. In 2012 Bayer relocated the top United States administrative head to the Bayer HealthCare site in Whippany. In 2019 Bayer announced the end of it operations at its Pittsburgh site. Later that year Bayer agreed to sell its Pittsburgh facilities to Covestro.
On September 18, 2014, the Board of Directors of Bayer AG announced plans to float the Bayer MaterialScience business on the stock market as a separate entity. This transaction was completed in the fall of 2015 with the establishment of Covestro AG.Sheenagh Matthews and Alex Webb for Bloomberg News. October 6, 2015
Products
Noted Bayer over-the-counter products include Aleve, Bayer Aspirin, Alka-Seltzer, Phillip's Laxatives, Bactine, One-A-Day Vitamins, Flintstone Vitamins, and Midol. The company also markets prescription medications, animal medications, and diagnostic and medical testing equipment. Aside from the medical arm of the company, Bayer also creates many different chemicals and agricultural products.
Lawsuit and Settlement
In 2018, Bayer purchased the American agricultural product producer Monsanto Co. With the purchase, Bayer also took on litigation against its weedkiller product, Roundup, which was subject to thousands of lawsuits, representing nearly 100,000 people, claiming the product caused their cancer. While Bayer denied wrongdoing, it did reach a 2020 settlement of $10 billion to eliminate uncertainty and resolve outstanding claims.
In 1953, Bayer Corporation founded the first of three foundations that were later merged into the Bayer USA Foundation to support philanthropic giving in the United States. Foundation grants focus on education and workforce development, and environment and sustainability. Making Science Make Sense is a science, technology, engineering, and mathematicssocial responsibility program to provide hands-on, inquiry-based educational opportunities in the United States. The program focuses on promoting science and scientific principles to students in grades K-20. Astronaut Mae Jemison is the national spokesperson for MSMS.
