Developed in 1949, Emetrol has been America’s choice for Nausea associated with upset stomach for over 60 years!

Recently, Emetrol was named by the American Pharmacists Association as their top pick for stomach upset and nausea; in a report on the award, CBS News’ The Early Show put it among classic products like Desitin^®, Claritin^® and Cortisone-10^®. They later named Emetrol an “essential” product to keep in your home medicine cabinet. Said New York WCBS-TV medical reporter Dr. Holly Phillips M.D., "It's interesting. It is a high-sugar medication. And what it does is it stops those spasms of the stomach.”  "It really calms down the stomach muscles and treats nausea that way."

Invented after World War II

Emetrol has Midwestern origins, developed after World War II by Indiana entrepreneur Harry S. Kinney, of Columbus, Indiana, and his firm, Kinney and Company. Kinney made a number of drugs, some of which were for children’s health. One, patented in 1952, was a “Vitamin Iron Pharmaceutical.” Of Kinney’s products, Emetrol endured, and became an American classic.

The Emetrol name was originally derived from emesis control, “emesis” being a Greek-derived medical term for vomiting.

Over 60 years later, Emetrol is one of the many brands of the privately run company Wellspring Pharmaceutical Corporation, based in Sarasota, Florida and founded by Dr. Robert A. Vukovich.

A timeline of Emetrol's history follows:

1949
On December 10, 1949, Harry S. Kinney and Wallis R. Kinney of Kinney and Company of 1327 California Street, Columbus, Indiana, apply for trademark for Emetrol, a “preparation containing acid and sugar for the prevention of vomiting.”

1951
Kinney receives “Trade-Mark Registration No. 536,728” from the US Patent and Trademark Office for Emetrol.

1953
Emetrol is the subject of a journal article entitled “Solutions in the Management of Vomiting” published in the American Journal of Pediatrics. The article reports on a 1949 study using Emetrol conducted by the University of Maryland’s department of Physiology and Dentistry.

1954
Emetrol is now nationally distributed. It sells for $1 in drugstores such as People’s Drug of Washington, D.C.; the retailer includes it in their “Drugs You Can Always Get at Peoples.” That year, Emetrol is also cited in the publication Medical Times.

1956
Emetrol shows up in a 1950s novel as an adult antidote to nausea in the Harper & Brother fiction book Company Man by John G. Burnett.

1963
The journal Medical Economics mentions Emetrol, saying, “Its advantages are that it is free of annoying side effects, is a safe and physiologic agent, neither stimulates nor depresses the individual, and is relatively inexpensive. Further, its value for a given patient can be readily appraised.”

1964
Gerald F. Rorer’s Fort Washington, Pennsylvania-based Rorer Pharmaceuticals purchases Kinney and Company. The 36,000 shares purchased by the Rorer are one of many acquisitions for Rorer, which made some 30 products, the best known being Maalox.

1969
In the year of the Apollo 11, the “pleasant mint flavor” of Emetrol sells for $1.49 during a “Wonderprices” sale in 125 Chicagoland Walgreens stores.                                                       

1984
Emetrol now sells for $2.79 in Chicagoland Walgreens. The 3 oz. bottle was promoted for an upset stomach, as well as “aid for nausea caused by food or travel.”

1987
On August 3, 1987, Rorer Groups sells Emetrol to Dublin, Ohio-based Adria Laboratories, a subsidiary of Montedison S.p.A., the Italian chemical company.

1994
St. Louis-based Bock Pharmacal purchases Emetrol. Bock, founded by Bulgarian-born Boris L. Moskoff, specializes in pediatric, obstetric and primary care pharmaceuticals. That year, a critic says of the children’s movie about seals called Andre that, “Parents who get roped into seeing this movie might well be tempted to blow 'em back - or arrive at the movie theater with a bottle of Emetrol.”

1996
Bock sells the rights to Emetrol to Pharmacia and Upjohn (later Pfizer).

2003
Along with staying away from diet pills (and replacing toothbrushes after the flu), author Polly Berent in her book Getting Ready for College, tells students to “Take Emetrol for nausea.” 

2006
Pfizer sells Emetrol to Johnson and Johnson’s McNeil Consumer Healthcare subsidiary.

2008
Sarasota-based Wellspring Pharmaceutical Corp. acquires a number of over-the-counter brands from McNeil, including Emetrol. It is now among a group of respected Wellspring brands that include the antacid/anti-gas Gelusil®, the moisturizing cream Glaxal Base®  and the antifungal cream Micatin®.

¹Emetrol finished number 1 in the “Nausea Remedies” category with 68.00% of pharmacist recommendations in the Pharmacy Times 2011 OTC Guide Survey of Pharmacists Recommendations.