diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/libmemcached/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/libmemcached/default.nix
index 16196c9abc9..619aa014497 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/libmemcached/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/libmemcached/default.nix
@@ -1,17 +1,23 @@
-{ stdenv, fetchurl, cyrus_sasl, libevent }:
+{ stdenv, fetchurl, fetchpatch, cyrus_sasl, libevent }:
 
 stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   name = "libmemcached-1.0.18";
-  
+
   src = fetchurl {
     url = https://launchpad.net/libmemcached/1.0/1.0.18/+download/libmemcached-1.0.18.tar.gz;
     sha256 = "10jzi14j32lpq0if0p9vygcl2c1352hwbywzvr9qzq7x6aq0nb72";
   };
-  
+
   # Fix linking against libpthread (patch from Fedora)
   # https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1037707
   # https://bugs.launchpad.net/libmemcached/+bug/1281907
-  patches = [ ./libmemcached-fix-linking-with-libpthread.patch ];
+  # Fix building on OS X (patch from Homebrew)
+  # https://bugs.launchpad.net/libmemcached/+bug/1245562
+  patches = stdenv.lib.optional stdenv.isLinux ./libmemcached-fix-linking-with-libpthread.patch
+    ++ stdenv.lib.optional stdenv.isDarwin (fetchpatch {
+      url = "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/homebrew/bfd4a0a4626b61c2511fdf573bcbbc6bbe86340e/Library/Formula/libmemcached.rb";
+      sha256 = "1nvxwdkxj2a2g39z0g8byxjwnw4pa5xlvsmdk081q63vmfywh7zb";
+    });
 
   buildInputs = [ cyrus_sasl libevent ];
 
@@ -19,6 +25,6 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     homepage = http://libmemcached.org;
     description = "Open source C/C++ client library and tools for the memcached server";
     license = licenses.bsd3;
-    platforms = platforms.linux;
+    platforms = platforms.linux ++ platforms.darwin;
   };
 }