Today we are the animal health division of global healthcare company Sanofi, but Merial's roots are in the scientific revolution of 19th-century France. Along the way, numerous innovations and industry firsts punctuated the histories of our predecessor companies, and in 1997 the Merial corporate entity was officially established through the merger of Rhône-Mérieux and Merck AgVet.

The forefather of Merial was Marcel Mérieux, who trained with the great 19th-century French scientist Louis Pasteur. In 1897 Mérieux founded the Institut Biologique Mérieux (Mérieux Biological Institute), in Lyon, France—the same city where Merial’s global headquarters is now located. This early vaccine research and production center was the starting point for the animal health endeavors that would one day become the company Merial. Leadership of the Institut was later taken over by Mérieux's son Charles, an entrepreneurial-minded physician.

In 1947 Charles Mérieux established the Institut Français de la Fièvre Aphteuse (French Institute for Foot-and-Mouth Disease), which became the site of the world's first industrial-scale vaccine production facility — and laid the foundation for Merial's now longstanding expertise in foot-and-mouth disease. These post-war decades also brought advances in other key animal health challenges:

• 1940, first efficient drug against the infectious poultry disease coccidiosis
• 1962, first broad-spectrum parasiticide against intestinal worms in livestock
• 1968, first animal vaccine against rabies

The 1970s saw a flurry of R&D activity in key areas of focus for our company. Researchers developed the avermectin family of anti-parasite drugs—most importantly, ivermectin®. It proved effective in safely controlling many internal parasites in animals ranging from pets to livestock, and became the basis of many products in subsequent years. The decade also brought the early discovery of fipronil, the flea-and-tick-killing molecule that eventually became FRONTLINE®. In 1979 the first of Merial's two immediate predecessor companies was formed: Merck AgVet, created as the animal health division of Merck & Co.

The second of Merial's predecessor, Rhône-Mérieux, was established in 1983.

During the 1980s, ivermectin took the animal health market by storm and laid the groundwork for Merial's leadership in parasiticides. The first product, IVOMEC®, to prevent and treat internal parasites in cattle launched in 1981. New ivermectin-based products emerged nearly every year thereafter—including the hugely successful HEARTGARD® in 1987. Collectively, ivermectin products soon became one of the animal health industry's biggest sellers ever.

When Rhône Mérieux and Merck AgVet combined in a 50-50 joint venture in 1997, the new global, standalone company—Merial—immediately held the industry's broadest portfolio of products and services to prevent and treat animal diseases. This included FRONTLINE®, launched in 1994, which before long overtook ivermectin as the world's best-selling animal health product.

Through the '90s Merial continued to cement our expertise in biologicals. We developed genetically engineered vaccines using the canarypox and other viral vectors to protect several animal species against a variety of diseases.

With the new millennium, Merial expanded in both infrastructure—with new R&D and manufacturing sites in New Jersey, China, and Brazil—and therapeutic areas and medicines. We continued to innovate in immunology: VAXXITEK® was launched in 2006 and over 59 billion birds have been vaccinated since, while ONCEPT® (2009) for melanoma in dogs is the world's first vaccine in any species for treating cancer.

In 2009 the French pharmaceutical company Sanofi-Aventis (which became simply Sanofi in 2010) acquired Merial as a wholly-owned subsidiary.

In 2011 Merial transitioned from a subsidiary of Sanofi to become its animal health division, and our global headquarters returned to our roots in Lyon, France. This relationship allows us to leverage the resources and expertise of the larger Sanofi organization while continuing to hone our specialized veterinary expertise.

With operations in every corner of the world, ongoing product innovations like the widely successful NEXGARD® (afoxolaner)(2013), the only beef-flavored monthly chew against fleas and ticks, and a focus on the broader global issues driving our industry, we are looking ahead to a future as exciting and transformative as our past.