Sigma-Aldrich (formally MilliporeSigma) is an American chemical,

life science Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energy trans ...

, and

biotechnology Biotechnology is the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms, cells, parts thereof and molecular analogues for products and services. The term ''biotechnology'' was first used by ...

company that is owned by the German chemical conglomerate

Merck Group The Merck Group, branded and commonly known as Merck, is a German multinational science and technology company headquartered in Darmstadt, with about 60,000 employees and present in 66 countries. The group includes around 250 companies; the ma ...

. Sigma-Aldrich was created in 1975 by the merger of Sigma Chemical Company and Aldrich Chemical Company. It grew through various acquisitions until it had over 9,600 employees and was listed on the Fortune 1000. The company is headquartered in St. Louis and has operations in approximately 40 countries. In 2015, the German chemical conglomerate Merck Group acquired Sigma-Aldrich for $17 billion. The company is currently a part of Merck's life science business and in combination with Merck's earlier acquired Millipore, operates as MilliporeSigma.About Us, EMD Millipore + Sigma-Aldrich = MilliporeSigma, The life science business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany
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History

Sigma Chemical Company of St. Louis and Aldrich Chemical Company of Milwaukee were both American specialty chemical companies when they merged in August 1975. The company grew throughout the 1980s and 1990s, with significant expansion in facilities, acquisitions and diversification into new market sectors.

Early history

* 1935 – Midwest Consultants was founded in

St Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

by brothers Aaron and Bernard Fischer, who hired chemical engineer Daniel Broida. ** 1946 – Sigma was formed from Midwest Consultants and manufactured just

adenosine triphosphate Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is an organic compound that provides energy to drive many processes in living cells, such as muscle contraction, nerve impulse propagation, condensate dissolution, and chemical synthesis. Found in all known forms of ...

. They were the first to manufacture pure ATP. ** 1972 – Sigma's IPO * 1951 – Aldrich founded in Milwaukee by

Alfred Bader Alfred Robert Bader, CBE (April 28, 1924 – December 23, 2018) was a Canadian chemist, businessman, philanthropist, and collector of fine art. He was considered by the ''Chemical & Engineering News'' poll of 1998 to be one of the "Top 75 Distin ...

and Jack Eisendrath and manufactured just 1-methyl-3-nitro-1-nitrosoguanidine. ** 1966 – Aldrich's IPO ** 1972 – Subsidiary Aldrich-Boranes launched to manufacture hydroboration products * 1975 – Merger of Sigma Chemical and Aldrich Chemical to created Sigma-Aldrich. Their first year earned $43 million in sales. * 1999 – Sigma-Aldrich reaches $1 billion in sales * 2005 – Announced membership in

The RNAi Consortium The RNAi Consortium, or TRC, is a public-private partnership whose mission is to create libraries of small hairpin RNAs (shRNAs) for 15'000 human and 15'000 mouse genes. These libraries should help the scientific community to analyse gene functio ...

* 2014 – Merck KGaA announced that it would purchase Sigma-Aldrich for approx. $17 billion (€13.1 billion). * November 3, 2014 – Sigma-Aldrich filed a definitive proxy statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to hold a special investors meeting regarding approval for the sale to Merck KGaA.

Acquisitions

1970s

*1978 – Makor Chemicals

1980s

* 1984 – Pathfinder * 1986 – Bio Yeda, Bristol Organics * 1989 – Fluka Chemie AG (Swiss company founded in the 1950s) purchased for $39 million.

1990s

* 1993 – Supelco, Inc. acquired to enter the chromatography market * 1994 – LabKemi AB * 1997 – Research Biochemicals International, Riedel-de-Haen, Techcares Systems, Carbolabs, YA Kemia * 1998 – Genosys

2000s

* 2000 – First Medical Inc., Amelung GmbH, ARK Scientific * 2001 – ISOTEC (produces stable isotopes used in basic research and medical diagnostics) * 2004 – Ultrafine (a supplier of contract manufacturing services for drug development), Tetrionics (a producer of high potency and cytotoxic active pharmaceutical ingredients) * 2005 – JRH Biosciences, an industrial supplier of cell culture products for the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries; Proligo Group, a global supplier of genomics research tools * 2006 – Beijing Superior Chemicals, Iropharm, Pharmorphix, Advanced Separation Technologies (manufacturer of products for chiral chromatography) * 2007 – Epichem acquired to expand capabilities in materials sciences and semiconductor markets; Molecular Medicine BioServices acquired to provide large-scale viral manufacturing capabilities; announced alliance with Sangamo BioSciences to develop zinc finger-based laboratory research reagents * 2009 – ChemNavigator * 2010 – Cerilliant Corporation, ACE Animals * 2011 – Resource Technology Corp, Vetec Quimica Fina * 2012 – Research Organics Inc., BioReliance (a toxicology and veterinary diagnostics company); BioReliance had previously been acquired by

Invitrogen Invitrogen is one of several brands under the Thermo Fisher Scientific corporation. The product line includes various subbrands of biotechnology products, such as machines and consumables for polymerase chain reaction, reverse transcription, clo ...

and subsequently sold to

Avista Capital Partners Avista Capital Partners is an American private equity firm headquartered in New York City focused on growth capital and leveraged buyout investments in middle-market companies in the domestic healthcare sector. History The firm was founded in 2 ...

. * 2014 – Cell Marque *2015 – Combined with EMD Millipore to make MilliporeSigma.

Key numbers

Key numbers for Sigma-Aldrich. Revenues: * $2.79 billion (2014) Products: * 100,000 chemical products (46,000 manufactured) * 30,000 laboratory equipment products Customers: * Approximately one million individual customers worldwide * 88,000 accounts Geographies (% of 2008 sales): * United States 35% * Europe 43% * Canada, Asia Pacific, Latin America 22%

Subsidiaries

Aldrich is a supplier in the research and fine chemicals market. Aldrich provides

organic Organic may refer to: * Organic, of or relating to an organism, a living entity * Organic, of or relating to an anatomical organ Chemistry * Organic matter, matter that has come from a once-living organism, is capable of decay or is the product ...

and

inorganic chemicals In chemistry, an inorganic compound is typically a chemical compound that lacks carbon–hydrogen bonds, that is, a compound that is not an organic compound. The study of inorganic compounds is a subfield of chemistry known as '' inorganic chemi ...

, building blocks, reagents, advanced materials and stable

isotopes Isotopes are two or more types of atoms that have the same atomic number (number of protons in their nuclei) and position in the periodic table (and hence belong to the same chemical element), and that differ in nucleon numbers ( mass numbers ...

for chemical synthesis, medicinal chemistry and materials science. Aldrich's chemicals catalog, the "Aldrich Catalog and Handbook" is often used as a handbook due to the inclusion of structures, physical data, and literature references. Sigma is the Sigma-Aldrich's main biochemical supplier, with offerings including

antibiotic An antibiotic is a type of antimicrobial substance active against bacteria. It is the most important type of antibacterial agent for fighting bacterial infections, and antibiotic medications are widely used in the treatment and prevention ...

s, buffers, carbohydrates, enzymes, forensic tools,

hematology Hematology ( always spelled haematology in British English) is the branch of medicine concerned with the study of the cause, prognosis, treatment, and prevention of diseases related to blood. It involves treating diseases that affect the produc ...

and

histology Histology, also known as microscopic anatomy or microanatomy, is the branch of biology which studies the microscopic anatomy of biological tissues. Histology is the microscopic counterpart to gross anatomy, which looks at larger structures vis ...

, nucleotides, proteins, peptides,

amino acid Amino acids are organic compounds that contain both amino and carboxylic acid functional groups. Although hundreds of amino acids exist in nature, by far the most important are the alpha-amino acids, which comprise proteins. Only 22 alpha am ...

s and their derivatives. Sigma RBI logo

Sigma RBI produces specialized products for use in the field of

cell signaling In biology, cell signaling (cell signalling in British English) or cell communication is the ability of a cell to receive, process, and transmit signals with its environment and with itself. Cell signaling is a fundamental property of all cellula ...

and neuroscience. Their offerings range from standard biochemical reagents to specialized research tools, including ligands for

receptors Receptor may refer to: * Sensory receptor, in physiology, any structure which, on receiving environmental stimuli, produces an informative nerve impulse *Receptor (biochemistry), in biochemistry, a protein molecule that receives and responds to a ...

and

ion channel Ion channels are pore-forming membrane proteins that allow ions to pass through the channel pore. Their functions include establishing a resting membrane potential, shaping action potentials and other electrical signals by gating the flow of ...

enzyme inhibitor An enzyme inhibitor is a molecule that binds to an enzyme and blocks its activity. Enzymes are proteins that speed up chemical reactions necessary for life, in which substrate molecules are converted into products. An enzyme facilitates a ...

s, phosphospecific

antibodies An antibody (Ab), also known as an immunoglobulin (Ig), is a large, Y-shaped protein used by the immune system to identify and neutralize foreign objects such as pathogenic bacteria and viruses. The antibody recognizes a unique molecule of the ...

, key signal transduction enzymes, and

assay An assay is an investigative (analytic) procedure in laboratory medicine, mining, pharmacology, environmental biology and molecular biology for qualitatively assessing or quantitatively measuring the presence, amount, or functional activity of a ...

kits for cell signaling. ISOTEC logo

ISOTEC provides isotopically labeled products for

protein structure Protein structure is the three-dimensional arrangement of atoms in an amino acid-chain molecule. Proteins are polymers specifically polypeptides formed from sequences of amino acids, the monomers of the polymer. A single amino acid monomer ma ...

determination,

peptide synthesis In organic chemistry, peptide synthesis is the production of peptides, compounds where multiple amino acids are linked via amide bonds, also known as peptide bonds. Peptides are chemically synthesized by the condensation reaction of the carboxyl ...

proteomics Proteomics is the large-scale study of proteins. Proteins are vital parts of living organisms, with many functions such as the formation of structural fibers of muscle tissue, enzymatic digestion of food, or synthesis and replication of DNA. I ...

, metabolic research, magnetic resonance imaging, nuclear magnetic resonance,

breath test A breath test is a type of test performed on air generated from the act of exhalation. Types include: *Breathalyzer – by far the most common usage of this term relates to the legal breath test to determine if a person is driving under the inf ...

substrates,

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

, as well as

gas Gas is one of the four fundamental states of matter (the others being solid, liquid, and plasma). A pure gas may be made up of individual atoms (e.g. a noble gas like neon), elemental molecules made from one type of atom (e.g. oxygen), or ...

and gas mixes. Riedel-de Haën was incorporated with Sigma-Aldrich in 1999 and manufactures reagents and standards. Supelco is the chromatography products branch of Sigma-Aldrich. It provides chromatography columns and related tools for

environmental A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scal ...

, government, food and beverage, pharmaceutical,

medical Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care practic ...

and chemical laboratories; sample preparation products and chemical reference standards. SAFC logo

Sigma-Aldrich Fine Chemicals (SAFC) is the fine chemical supply branch of Sigma-Aldrich specializing in raw materials for

cell culture Cell culture or tissue culture is the process by which cells are grown under controlled conditions, generally outside of their natural environment. The term "tissue culture" was coined by American pathologist Montrose Thomas Burrows. This t ...

products; customized services for raw materials, manufacturing of active pharmaceutical ingredients. Sigma Life Science provides products such as custom DNA/ RNA oligos; custom DNA and LNA probes; siRNA; isotopically-labelled peptides and peptide libraries. Sigma Advanced Genetic Engineering (SAGE) Labs is a division within Sigma-Aldrich that specializes in

genetic manipulation Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification or genetic manipulation, is the modification and manipulation of an organism's genes using technology. It is a set of technologies used to change the genetic makeup of cells, including ...

of in vivo systems for special research and development applications. It was formed in 2008 to investigate

zinc finger nuclease Zinc-finger nucleases (ZFNs) are artificial restriction enzymes generated by fusing a zinc finger DNA-binding domain to a DNA-cleavage domain. Zinc finger domains can be engineered to target specific desired DNA sequences and this enables zin ...

technology and its application for disease research models. Located in St. Louis, Missouri, SAGE Labs have developed

knockout rat A knockout rat is a genetically engineered rat with a single gene turned off through a targeted mutation (gene trapping) used for academic and pharmaceutical research. Knockout rats can mimic human diseases and are important tools for studying ...

s for the study of human diseases and disorders (such as autism), which are sold for up to US$95,000. SAGE also announced its first successful effort in creating a "knockout rabbit". Its facilities include a specific pathogen free, biosecure

vivarium A vivarium (Latin, literally for "place of life"; plural: ''vivaria'' or ''vivariums'') is an area, usually enclosed, for keeping and raising animals or plants for observation or research. Water-based vivaria may have open tops providing they a ...

as well as research and development labs. Carbolabs produces research quantities of chemicals produced by

phosgenation Phosgene is the organic chemical compound with the formula COCl2. It is a toxic, colorless gas; in low concentrations, its musty odor resembles that of freshly cut hay or grass. Phosgene is a valued and important industrial building block, esp ...

reactions. The company was acquired in 1998. BioReliance provides testing and manufacturing services to pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical companies that span the product cycle from early pre-clinical development to licensed production. The company was acquired by Sigma Aldrich in January 2012.

Current leadership

Matthias Heinzel became CEO of the Life Science business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany in April 2021 following Udit Batra's departure from company.

References

External links

Official websiteComunidad Oficial Facebook LATAM - Merck Life ScienceComunidad Linkedin LATAM - Merck Life Science
{{Authority control Companies formerly listed on the Nasdaq Research support companies Chemical companies of the United States Companies based in St. Louis Biotechnology companies of the United States Chemical companies established in 1975 Biotechnology companies established in 1975 2015 mergers and acquisitions Merck Group American subsidiaries of foreign companies