A commercial first aid kit was attributed to Johnson & Johnson in 1988. Robert Wood Johnson had started a company in 1873 to manufacture medicated plasters. A popular active ingredient at the time was mustard. Mustard was utilized to relieve muscle pain, rheumatism, and arthritis. Johnson had found a means to keep the unstable mustard on plaster to allow a longer shelf life. Robert Wood Johnson then formed Johnson & Johnson in 1986 with the addition of his two brothers, James Wood Johnson and Edward Mead Johnson. They created a line of ready to use sterile surgical dressings.

Robert Wood Johnson was heading to Colorado in 1988 for vacation. As the company history states, he “struck up a conversation with the Denver & Rio Grande Railway’s chief surgeon. The doctor explained to Johnson the dangers of railroad construction and the lack of medical supplies to treat the unique industrial injuries that were often incurred great distances from hospitals. From this exchange, Johnson saw an opportunity to both advance the field of healthcare and build his young business. And from this modern need, the commercial First Aid Kit was born.”