In 1983, Hollister-Stier Laboratories became a division of the Miles Pharmaceutical Group. Hollister-Stier Laboratories, located in Spokane, was founded by chemist Guy Hollister and Robert E. Stier, M.D. in 1921, and began partially as the result of Mrs. Hollister’s “summer cold,” which Hollister and Stier discovered was caused by grasses in the Spokane area.

The two friends developed a vaccine to help Mrs. Hollister, and the company became the leader in allergen extracts.