Miles Laboratories was founded as the Dr. Miles Medical Company in Elkhart

Elkhart, Indiana

Elkhart is a city in Elkhart County, Indiana, United States. The city is located east of South Bend, northwest of Fort Wayne, east of Chicago, and north of Indianapolis...

, Indiana

Indiana

Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...

, in 1884 by Franklin Miles, a specialist in the treatment of eye and ear disorders, with an interest in the connection of the nervous system to overall health. Miles operated as an independent firm from 1884 until 1979 and as a wholly owned subsidiary of Bayer AG

Bayer

Bayer AG is a chemical and pharmaceutical company founded in Barmen , Germany in 1863. It is headquartered in Leverkusen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany and well known for its original brand of aspirin.-History:...

 from 1979 until 1995, when it was consolidated into the parent corporation.

History

By 1890, the sales success of his patent medicine tonic

Patent medicine

Patent medicine refers to medical compounds of questionable effectiveness sold under a variety of names and labels. The term "patent medicine" is somewhat of a misnomer because, in most cases, although many of the products were trademarked, they were never patented...

, Dr. Miles' Nervine, in treating "nervous" ailments (including "nervousness

Anxiety

Anxiety is a psychological and physiological state characterized by somatic, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral components. The root meaning of the word anxiety is 'to vex or trouble'; in either presence or absence of psychological stress, anxiety can create feelings of fear, worry, uneasiness,...

 or nervous exhaustion, sleeplessness, hysteria

Hysteria

Hysteria, in its colloquial use, describes unmanageable emotional excesses. People who are "hysterical" often lose self-control due to an overwhelming fear that may be caused by multiple events in one's past that involved some sort of severe conflict; the fear can be centered on a body part, or,...

, headache

Headache

A headache or cephalalgia is pain anywhere in the region of the head or neck. It can be a symptom of a number of different conditions of the head and neck. The brain tissue itself is not sensitive to pain because it lacks pain receptors. Rather, the pain is caused by disturbance of the...

, neuralgia

Neuralgia

Neuralgia is pain in one or more nerves that occurs without stimulation of pain receptor cells. Neuralgia pain is produced by a change in neurological structure or function rather than by the excitation of pain receptors that causes nociceptive pain. Neuralgia falls into two categories: central...

, backache, pain

Pain

Pain is an unpleasant sensation often caused by intense or damaging stimuli such as stubbing a toe, burning a finger, putting iodine on a cut, and bumping the "funny bone."...

, epilepsy

Epilepsy

Epilepsy is a common chronic neurological disorder characterized by seizures. These seizures are transient signs and/or symptoms of abnormal, excessive or hypersynchronous neuronal activity in the brain.About 50 million people worldwide have epilepsy, and nearly two out of every three new cases...

, spasm

Spasm

In medicine a spasm is a sudden, involuntary contraction of a muscle, a group of muscles, or a hollow organ, or a similarly sudden contraction of an orifice. It is sometimes accompanied by a sudden burst of pain, but is usually harmless and ceases after a few minutes...

s, fit

Fit

Fit or FIT may refer to:Fitness* Physical fitness, how well a person is suited for physical tasks* FitTV, cable television network about physical fitness* Wii Fit, Nintendo Wii video game about physical fitness...

s, and St. Vitus' dance") led him to develop a mail order

Mail order

Mail order is a term which describes the buying of goods or services by mail delivery. The buyer places an order for the desired products with the merchant through some remote method such as through a telephone call or web site. Then, the products are delivered to the customer...

 medicine business. Miles also published Medical News, a thinly disguised marketing vehicle for Nervine. Nervine remained on the market as a "calmative" until the late 1960s. In 1935, the name of the company was changed to Miles Laboratories.

In 1979, Bayer AG, whose original U.S. and Canadian aspirin

Aspirin

Aspirin , also known as acetylsalicylic acid , is a salicylate drug, often used as an analgesic to relieve minor aches and pains, as an antipyretic to reduce fever, and as an anti-inflammatory medication. It was discovered by Arthur Eichengrun, a chemist with the German company Bayer...

 business was seized as enemy property during World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 and subsequently sold as enemy assets, purchased Miles Laboratories and its subsidiary Miles Canada to reestablish a presence in North America, in the process also acquiring such products as Alka-Seltzer

Alka-Seltzer

Alka-Seltzer is an effervescent antacid and pain reliever first marketed by the Dr. Miles Medicine Company. It was developed by Treneer in Elkhart Indiana. Alka-Seltzer is marketed for relief of minor aches, pains, inflammation, fever, headache, heartburn, sour stomach, indigestion, and hangovers,...

, Flintstones Vitamins

Flintstones Chewable Vitamins

-History:Flintstones Chewable Vitamins are supplemental multivitamins for children based on the animated sitcom The Flintstones. They were introduced in 1968 by Miles Laboratories and taste faintly like candy. Miles Laboratories was acquired by Bayer in 1979.The vitamins are one of the most...

, One-A-Day Vitamins and Bactine

Bactine

Bactine is the trademarked name of a range of topical first-aid treatments produced by Bayer. It includes a first aid liquid with active ingredients Benzalkonium chloride, an antiseptic, and lidocaine, a local anaesthetic. Bactine Liquid is a topical anesthetic , which means that it is used to numb...

; it also included the S.O.S Soap Pad

S.O.S Soap Pad

S.O.S Soap Pad is a trade name for an abrasive cleaning pad, used for household cleaning, and made from steel wool saturated with soap.In 1917, Ed Cox of San Francisco, an aluminum pot salesman, invented a pre-soaped pad with which to clean pots. As a way of introducing himself to potential new...

 and Worthington Foods. Bayer continued to operate Miles Laboratories and developed many drugs based upon biological extracts, such as Kogenate, Gamimune-N and other immunoglobulins, and Trasylol

Aprotinin

The drug aprotinin , is the bovine version of the small protein basic pancreatic trypsin inhibitor, or BPTI, which inhibits trypsin and related proteolytic enzymes. Under the trade name Trasylol, aprotinin was used as a medication administered by injection to reduce bleeding during complex surgery,...

, as well as diagnostic products such as blood glucose test strips and glucose meter

Glucose meter

A glucose meter is a medical device for determining the approximate concentration of glucose in the blood. It is a key element of home blood glucose monitoring by people with diabetes mellitus or hypoglycemia...

s. Miles also owned Cutter Biologicals, manufacturer of such diverse products as insect repellent

Insect repellent

An insect repellent is a substance applied to skin, clothing, or other surfaces which discourages insects from landing or climbing on that surface. There are also insect repellent products available based on sound production, particularly ultrasound...

 and synthetic

Chemical synthesis

In chemistry, chemical synthesis is purposeful execution of chemical reactions to get a product, or several products. This happens by physical and chemical manipulations usually involving one or more reactions...

 human Factor VIII

Factor VIII

Factor VIII is an essential blood clotting factor also known as anti-hemophilic factor . In humans, Factor VIII is encoded by the F8 gene...

 clotting factor for hemophiliacs.

In 1992, Bayer AG moved the United States headquarters of Miles to Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...

, Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

 from Elkhart, and on April 1, 1995 Bayer eliminated the Miles brand name from all products and facilities after Bayer acquired Sterling Winthrop the previous year, thus reclaiming the North American rights to Bayer's name and trademarks as well as Bayer Aspirin.

Miles Laboratories also operated sites in other parts of the United States, including West Haven

West Haven, Connecticut

West Haven is a city in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. According to 2006 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city is 52,721.-History:...

, Connecticut

Connecticut

Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...

, which are now part of Bayer AG.