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Merck drugs company. Invest in new ideas

Merck KGaA - the company was founded in 1668. Founder Friedrich Jakob Merck.

Story

In the first half of the 19th century, Emanuel Merck created a factory at the family pharmacy to produce everything necessary for pharmaceutical production. The company's first branch outside Germany opened in London, the second in New York, and the third in Moscow (1898).

2017

Losses of insurance companies from cyberattack on Merck

In October 2017, Verisk Analytics, one of the world's leading providers of solutions for collecting and analytical processing of large amounts of data, estimated the losses of insurers from cyber attacks on Merck.

According to calculations by experts from the Verisk Analytics Property Claim Services division, Insurance companies could pay $275 million to cover damage caused by a hacker attack to Merck's insured assets. The company itself did not comment on this figure and did not disclose uninsured losses.

Merck does have insurance that will cover some of the damage, she said. At the same time, Gillespie did not estimate the company’s own costs for eliminating the consequences of the cyber attack.

Merck was among a dozen companies affected by the large-scale spread of the NotPetya virus at the end of June 2017. The malware affected the production of some of Merck's drugs and vaccines and disrupted the company's operations around the world.

Merck says the company will be able to maintain a constant supply of its best-selling and life-saving drugs, but warns of temporary delays in delivery of some other products.

As Reuters notes, the service of insurance against cyber threats is poorly distributed outside and is not cheap - approximately from 100 thousand to 1 million dollars. Such insurance policies typically cover costs associated with data breaches, forensic examination, information recovery, etc. Insurance also allows companies to compensate for losses in the event of website failures due to cyber attacks.

Sale of biosimilar business for 656 million euros

NoyPetya virus attack

The American pharmaceutical giant Merck, which suffered greatly as a result of the NotPetya ransomware attack in June, still cannot restore all systems and return to normal operation. This was reported in the company's report on Form 8-K, submitted to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) at the end of July 2017.

From the document, excerpts from which are published by Bleeping Computer, it follows that the cyber ransomware attack had a serious impact on global activities Merck, affecting manufacturing, research and development and sales operations.

By the end of July 2017, Merck had largely restored its product packaging and partially its formulation activities. The production of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) is still in the process of restoration, and the production of bulk dosage forms has not yet been resumed. External production processes the companies were not affected, the report said.

Despite the incident, Merck is fulfilling orders and shipping products, apparently from the company's existing inventory. The manufacturer continues to deliver its critical products such as the diabetes drug Januvia, the immuno-oncology drug Keytruda and the hepatitis C drug Zepatier, but warned of possible delays on other products.

The incident will have financial consequences for the company. In particular, due to the forced downtime, Merck had to worsen its forecast for annual profit. Now the figure is expected to range from $1.60 to $1.72 per share, while three months earlier the company predicted the figure at $2.51 to $2.63, notes The Financial Times.

2015

In August 2015, the company announced a deal to acquire the American manufacturer of chemicals and reagents Sigma-Aldrich. The deal was supposed to take place in the fall of 2015. Transaction value: $17 billion.

2013

In December 2013, the Merck group announced the purchase of the Luxembourg company AZ Electronic Materials SA - profile - production of chemical materials used in the production of electronics (including televisions and iPads). Transaction value £1.6 billion.

2010

The company acquired Millipore Corporation for €5.1 billion.

2007

Merck Group bought the Swiss company Serona, a leader in the European biotechnology industry.

Merck company, company history, company activities

Merck company, company history, company activities, company management

Designation

Owners and management

Activity

Merck KGaA in Russia

The merger of pharmaceutical giants Merck and Schering-Plough

Merck KGaA - This(pronounced Merk in Russian) (FWB: MRCG) is the world's oldest pharmaceutical and chemical company, founded in 1668 by Friedrich Merck. The headquarters is located in Darmstadt, Germany. IN North America known as EMD. The Merck name belongs to the world's oldest chemical and pharmaceutical company, founded in 1668 in Darmstadt, Germany. Since 1995 the company has existed as Merck KGaA, where the founding family and co-founders have 74% and 26% shares respectively.

The chemical sector specializes in the production of high-quality chemical raw materials, pharmaceutical substances, analytical reagents and test kits, liquid crystals for displays, chemicals for electronics, pigments with special pearlescent effects, and also offers products and services for the complete value chain in pharmaceutical production.

Working with talented enterprising employees, applied research and development, use innovative technologies in production, constant attention to customers and a responsible attitude towards natural sources are the keys to Merck's success. Merck & Co. engages in the development, production and sale of medicines. The company's most famous drugs are Singulair for the treatment of bronchial asthma and allergic rhinitis, the antihypertensive drug Cozaar/Hyzaar, the drug for the treatment of osteoporosis Fosamax, the anticholesterol drug Zocor, etc. Merck & Co. also produces various vaccines, among which the most famous are the Gardasil vaccine against cervical cancer, the Pneumovax vaccine for the prevention of pneumococcal infection and RotaTeq, intended for immunizing children against rotavirus infection. Merck & Co. entered into partnership agreements with Neuromed Pharmaceuticals, NicOx, FoxHollow Technologies. The company was founded in 1891 and is headquartered in Whitehouse Station, New Jersey.

In Business Week's 2007 ranking of innovative companies, Merck & Co. is in 46th place. The company continues to bring first-class medicines. In 2006, two revolutionary drugs were released: the first ever anti-cancer vaccine, Gardasil, and a drug for the treatment of diabetes with a completely new mechanism of action, Januvia.

Owners and management

Since 1995 the company has existed in the form joint stock company, where the founding family and freeholders have 74% and 26% of the shares, respectively. Today, about 30,000 people around the world continue the company's 300-year tradition. Merck & Co., Inc. - it's worldwide famous company for the development and production of pharmaceuticals, whose activities are primarily aimed at protecting the interests of patients. Founded in 1891, Merck now researches, develops, manufactures and delivers vaccines and medicines to meet pressing medical needs. The Company is committed to increasing access to drugs through long-term programs that not only promote sales of Merck drugs, but also improve access to patients in need. Merck also publishes objective health information as part of its charitable activities. The middle of the 17th century in Europe was a fertile time for doctors and pharmacists. Europe expanded trade relations with distant countries, and this had great consequences for medicine - thousands of travelers brought new diseases and new medicines to treat them from exotic China, Siam, and African countries. In 1668, at the height of the “pharmacy fever,” 47-year-old Friedrich Jakob Merck raised enough money to open in his native Darmstadt, a small town just south of Frankfurt. own pharmacy, which he called Engel-Apotheke ("angel's pharmacy").

The first Merkov pharmacy was located in a large three-story building, where, in addition to living quarters and trading floor There was also a warehouse and a laboratory. After the death of Friedrich Jakob, the pharmacy passed to his nephew, and then for four generations in a row it was passed down from father to son in its original form, until finally, in 1816, it went to Friedrich Jakob’s great-grandnephew, Emmanuel, the first of the Merks, whom the narrow confines of a small family pharmacy already were not satisfied.

Emmanuel Merck received the best chemical education at that time in Germany and France. Returning to his native Darmstadt, he began to pay more attention to the chemical laboratory, constantly improving his skills in the isolation, purification and analysis of plant alkaloids. In 1827, Merck, finally convinced of the greater profitability of the pharmaceutical manufacturing business compared to the trading business, opened the first chemical plant and began selling purified alkaloids throughout Germany.

The first alkaloid that Emmanuel Merck brought to the wide market was morphine, which was widely used at that time as a sleeping pill and analgesic.

Merck's drugs have won good reputation in Germany: at the beginning of the 19th century, the E. Merck brand became a symbol of quality in the nascent pharmaceutical industry. The company began to grow at a tremendous pace. In the early 30s of the 19th century, twenty people worked at the E. Merck plant, by the mid-50s - more than fifty, and by the beginning of the 20th century, the staff exceeded well over a thousand people. The factory could no longer develop in its original location in the center of Darmstadt, and Merki decided to move the factory outside the city, to where it is still located.

Emmanuel Merck died in 1854, passing the company on to his son Wilhelm-Ludwig, who continued to develop family business. In 1891, he decided it was time to break into the American market and sent his son Georg to New York.

Georg Merck coped with the responsibilities assigned to him, and after ten years, sales in the United States gave E. Merck up to a quarter of all profits. In 1900, Georg decided that the time had come to organize production in the United States itself. He bought 120 acres of wetland in New Jersey and built the company's first plant outside of Germany. Sales volumes grew at such a pace that within a few years a second plant was needed, which was built in the Midwest, in St. Louis. To manage the factories, the company Merck & Co. was created, 80% of the shares belonged to E. Merck, and the remaining 20% was owned personally by Georg Merck. The company sold bismuth salts, iodides, and plant alkaloids. Morphine continued to occupy the most important place in the production line.

The prosperity of the international company E.Merck was put to an end by the first World War. In the wake of anti-German hysteria, Americans stopped listening to Beethoven and renamed hamburgers “Salisbury steaks,” and the Foreign Property Annexation Act of 1915 allowed the US government to deprive the German company E. Merck of ownership of 80% of Merck & Co. shares. and put these shares on public sale. Georg Merck, who by that time had already become a US citizen named George Merck, had to urgently find $3.75 million to buy them back. Fortunately for him, the money was found, and Merck & Co. remained in the hands of the family.

From then on, E. Merck and Merck & Co. began to develop independently of each other. American company a little luckier. George Merck's son, George Merck Jr., was going to become a chemist. His father asked him to wait a couple of months until the war was over to continue his studies at European universities, and in the meantime work for the company. The war lasted more than four years, and the younger Merck remained in the company for 42 years and turned the enterprise of his ancestors into the largest pharmaceutical concern in the world.

It was George Merck Jr. who first paid attention to the finished drug market and decided to reposition the company from the market of substances and semi-finished products for chemical synthesis to the market medicines. The company began its own pharmaceutical research in the 1930s. The company's rise began in the 1940s when George Merck agreed to provide Rutgers University professor Selman Waxman with laboratory and financial support to search for antibiotics that could replace penicillin. It took Waksman only three years to create streptomycin, a powerful drug that can fight the causative agent of tuberculosis. A few years later, chemists at Merck & Co. For the first time in the world, they synthesized artificial cortisone, thereby opening the first page in the history of hormonal therapy.

In 1976 Research Center The company was headed by the talented chemist Roy Vagelos, who in 1984 was unanimously elected as the new CEO of the company. His name is associated with the revolutionary development of a new class of drugs (see table).

In the mid-1990s, annual sales of Merck & Co. was about $3 billion, profits reached $500 million a year. The company employed 28,000 people, and annual costs for developing new drugs accounted for 20% of profits. More than a thousand scientists worked in six laboratories in America and four in Europe. The company owned 24 plants in the United States (including one in Puerto Rico) and 44 plants around the world.

The company's motto remained the words of George Merck Jr., spoken by him at the dawn of his activity: “Remember that medicine is not created for profit, but for people. The profits will come later. And the less you think about them, the greater the profits will be.”

Meanwhile, in Europe, E. Merck continued to operate as one of Germany's largest chemical companies. E. Merck has also made many of the world's biggest discoveries in pharmaceutical chemistry. In 1904, E. Merck scientists were the first to synthesize liquid crystals; in 1927, vitamin D was isolated in the company's laboratories, and in 1934, the first commercially successful industrial synthesis of ascorbic acid (vitamin C) was carried out. E. Merck was among the pioneers of the market for artificially synthesized vitamins. Vitamins B1, E, a soluble form of vitamin K - all these substances were successfully produced at the plant in Darmstadt.

At the same time, anti-drug activists still cannot forgive the company for being at the forefront of the development of many narcotic substances. In addition to the already mentioned morphine, with which it began production activity Emmanuel Merck, the company was the first in the world to produce purified cocaine in 1884 (this research, by the way, was actively supported by the founder of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud).

At the beginning of the twentieth century, E. Merck received a patent for the production of MDMA. The company itself did not attach much importance to this substance and for some time used it only as an intermediate product in the synthesis of the vasoconstrictor drug hydrastinin. However, many years later, civilization discovered new properties of MDMA and called it “ecstasy.”

The company was able to survive the Second World War. E.Merck products were not officially used by the Nazi regime, and the company avoided accusations of collaboration with the Third Reich. Despite the fact that more than 80% of the Darmshadt plant was destroyed during Allied bombing, E. Merck resumed business exactly two months after the Allies allowed German companies to synthesize chemicals again on April 30, 1945.

After the war, the company produced mainly hormone preparations (some of which, for example Fortecortin, are still used to this day), pesticides, analytical substances, reagents for chromatography, and food preservatives. In 1957, E. Merck began producing the first artificial mother-of-pearl. During the economic boom in post-war West Germany, the company regularly posted annual production increases in the tens of percent.

In October 1995, the Merck family decided to sell a portion of its company shares on the open market for the first time. For a 25% stake, the company received more than $2.1 billion - this was one of the largest sales in German history. Today the group has changed its name to Merck KGaA and continues to operate successfully, occupying a leading position in the German chemical market.

In the mid-50s of the twentieth century, the companies E. Merck and Merck & Co. started working on the same national markets, and it became necessary to divide the Merck name, which by that time had become one of the most expensive trademarks in the world. After long negotiations, the companies managed to reach a compromise. Now the rights to the exclusive use of the Merck brand in the USA and Canada belong to the American Merck & Co., and in Europe and all other markets to the German Merck KGaA. For this reason, the German group's products are sold in America under the umbrella brand EMD - after the name of a small pharmaceutical company that Merck KGaA had to buy specifically for this purpose. Products of Merck & Co. Sold worldwide under the Merck Sharp & Dohme brand and in Europe under the MSD Sharp & Dohme brand. Both companies regularly emphasize that Merck KGaA is not the same as Merck & Co.

Today Merck & Co. lost its leading position in the pharmaceutical market, slightly inferior to its main competitors - Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKlein. Analysts associate the current situation with the figure of a new general director– Raymond Gilmartin, the first Merck & Co. economist who took the helm of the company. During the years of his reign, it was not possible to bring to market a single truly new drug. Patents on the most popular drugs, generating billions of dollars in revenue, are inexorably expiring, and worthy replacement they can't see it yet. Merck & Co. is forced to spend more and more money on the development of new drugs (more than $2.5 billion in 2002), but these expenses have not yet brought the expected results. Many analysts see a way out of this situation only by purchasing a company with great research potential.

Activity

The activities of the Merck group of companies located around the world are carried out in two main areas - pharmaceutical and chemical.

The company's pharmaceutical business includes the development and production of prescription or licensed drugs, generic drugs and drugs for over-the-counter retail sale. Pharmaceutical products (Nasivin, Concor, Cebion, etc.) on Russian market is represented by Nycomed. More than 30% of revenue comes from the production of liquid crystals for mobile phones, televisions and computer displays, pearlescent pigments for packaging and cosmetics, cosmetic ingredients, solvents and Supplies for HPLC and TLC, granular microbiological media, instruments and rapid tests for analytical laboratories. The Merck group of companies includes the following biochemical brands: Calbiochem, Novabiochem, Novagen - today known collectively as Merck Biosciences.

In 2008, the company's sales amounted to about 7.6 billion euros, an increase of 7.1% compared to 7 billion euros the year before, profits decreased compared to the previous year by 89.5% from 3.5 billion euros to 367 million euros . Merck produces original patented dosage forms such as Concor®, Euthyrox®; generics, as well as Health care products - vitamins, minerals, nutritional supplements, such as Multibionta®, Cebion®, Bion®3. Many scientists working in biotechnological, immunochemical, genetic engineering and molecular biology laboratories are familiar with the brands Calbiochem, Oncogen, Novabiochem and Novagen. Not everyone knows that these brands are part of the Merck company. Several years ago, the Oncogen brand was disbanded, but all products were preserved and became part of the Calbiochem Immunochemicals catalog.

Now all three brands are united under the common name Merck Chemicals Ltd., whose head office is located in Nottingham, UK. Scientific centers and production of innovative biochemical reagents and kits included in the Calbiochem Immunochemicals and Novagen catalogs are located in the United States, where the company is called EMD Biosciences. The production of Novabiochem fine chemicals is established in the company's Swiss office

Currently, the right to sell medicines in the Russian Federation belongs to Nycomed. More detailed information can be found on the company's website.

Through our distributors you can still order pharmaceutical substances, premixes and nutritional supplements. You will find more detailed information in the Life Science Products section.

Merck KGaA in Russia

The chemical direction on the Russian market is represented by non-profit organization - regional office Merck in Moscow (CMG - company of Merck group). The responsibilities of the representative office include working with distributors, preparing Russian-language information, presenting products at exhibitions, conferences, and scientific seminars. Representative office in Russia: Pharmamonics Limited (UK).

history of the company

The history of the global chemical and pharmaceutical company Merck begins in 1668. The future of the company is created by an army of thousands of employees (35,091 people) working in 62 countries. The key to the company's success is innovation activity its employees. Merck's business activities are carried out under the auspices of Merck KGaA, in which 70% of the shares are owned by the Merck family and the remaining 30% by independent shareholders. Subsidiary Merck & Co. USA since 1917 is independent company. In 1998, Merck KGaA (Darmstadt, Germany) received marketing rights for Erbitux outside the United States and Canada from ImClone Systems Inc. (New York, USA). In Japan, Merck KGaA holds exclusive marketing rights for the drug together with ImClone Systems. Merck KGaA continues to be active in advancing cancer therapies, with new drugs currently being studied in the context of highly selective targeted therapies, such as Erbitux for colorectal cancer, head and neck squamous cell carcinoma and non-small cell lung cancer. Merck KGaA also acquired the rights to the cancer drug UFT® (tegafur-uracil), an oral chemotherapy drug coadministered with folinic acid (FA) for the first-line treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer.

Along with other anticancer drugs, Merck KGAA is also studying Stimuvax® (formerly BLP25 Liposomal Vaccine) for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer. In September 2004, the Office of Control food products and the US Drug Administration (FDA) gave the vaccine the status of a drug approved under an accelerated procedure. Merck received from Biomira Inc. (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada) exclusive licensing rights worldwide except Canada, where both companies own the rights.

It is usually said that Merck is one of the leaders in the global pharmaceutical market. In reality, there are not one, but two companies with this name. Both occupy leading positions in the pharmaceutical market, both are proud of their past, both consider the same person to be their founder, and both emphasize that, apart from the name Merck, they now have nothing in common.

The middle of the 17th century in Europe was a fertile time for doctors and pharmacists. Europe expanded trade relations with distant countries, and this had great consequences for medicine - thousands of travelers brought new diseases and new medicines to treat them from exotic China, Siam, and African countries.

The history of the Merck company dates back to the 17th century, when in 1668 the 47-year-old pharmacist Friedrich Jacob Merck acquired the Engel pharmacy in Darmstadt. After the death of Friedrich Jakob, the pharmacy passed to his nephew, and then for four generations in a row it was passed down from father to son in its original form, until finally, in 1816, it went to Friedrich Jakob’s great-grandnephew, Emmanuel, the first of the Merks, whom the narrow confines of a small family pharmacy already were not satisfied.

In the process of development, the pharmacy laboratory expanded and transformed into a chemical-pharmaceutical factory, where, along with raw materials for the manufacture of drugs, many other high-quality chemicals were produced, and, since 1900, finished medical preparations. In 1860, more than 800 were manufactured, and in 1900, about 10,000 items of various products. From the very foundation of the company, attention was paid not only to expanding the names of products, but also to the purity of the drugs. In the middle of the 19th century, thanks to its successful development, the company began to focus not only on the domestic, but also on the international market.

In 1888 they went on sale “guaranteed” pure reagents"from Merck, in 1899 a list of prices for photochemicals was first published, and in 1904 - for medical preparations. At that time, along with numerous representative offices abroad, the company already had large branches in London, New York and Moscow.

The prosperity of the international company E. Merck was brought to an end by the First World War. In the wake of anti-German hysteria, Americans stopped listening to Beethoven and renamed hamburgers “Salisbury steaks,” and the Foreign Property Annexation Act of 1915 allowed the US government to deprive the German company E. Merck of ownership of 80% of Merck & Co. shares. and put these shares on public sale. Georg Merck, who by that time had already become a US citizen named George Merck, had to urgently find $3.75 million to buy them back. Fortunately for him, the money was found, and Merck & Co. remained in the hands of the family.

From then on, E. Merck and Merck & Co. began to develop independently of each other. The American company was a little luckier. George Merck's son, George Merck Jr., was going to become a chemist. His father asked him to wait a couple of months until the war was over to continue his studies at European universities, and in the meantime work for the company. The war lasted more than four years, and the younger Merck remained in the company for 42 years and turned the enterprise of his ancestors into the largest pharmaceutical concern in the world.

In 1925, when George Merck Jr. took over the company, Merck was already the largest privately owned chemical manufacturer in the world, selling $10 million worth of fine chemicals annually. By the time of George's death in 1957, Merck & Co. turned into a publicly traded company with a turnover of more than $200 million, with several employees Nobel Prizes in medicine: in 1952, the laureate was Selman Waksman, who discovered streptomycin, and in 1950, the prize was given to Edward Kendall, Tadeusz Reichstein and Philip Hench for the synthesis of cortisone.

Under Vagelos' leadership, Merck & Co. for seven years in a row - from 1987 to 1993, it topped the American list of most respected companies. In the mid-1990s, Merck & Co. was the undisputed leader in the pharmaceutical world, the number one company in terms of sales, profits, total cost and qualifications of its personnel. In the mid-1990s, annual sales of Merck & Co. was about $3 billion, profits reached $500 million a year. The company employed 28,000 people, and annual costs for developing new drugs accounted for 20% of profits. More than a thousand scientists worked in six laboratories in America and four in Europe. The company owned 24 plants in the United States (including one in Puerto Rico) and 44 plants around the world.

Meanwhile, in Europe, E. Merck continued to operate as one of Germany's largest chemical companies. E. Merck also managed to make many major discoveries in the field of pharmaceutical chemistry. In 1904, E. Merck scientists were the first to synthesize liquid crystals; in 1927, vitamin D was isolated in the company's laboratories, and in 1934, the first commercially successful industrial synthesis of ascorbic acid (vitamin C) was carried out. E. Merck was among the pioneers of the market for artificially synthesized vitamins. Vitamins B1, E, a soluble form of vitamin K - all these substances were successfully produced at the plant in Darmstadt.

At the same time, anti-drug activists still cannot forgive the company for being at the forefront of the development of many narcotic substances. In addition to morphine, with which Emmanuel Merck’s production activities began, the company was the first in the world to produce purified cocaine in 1884 (this research, by the way, was actively supported by the founder of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud).

In the mid-50s of the twentieth century, E. Merck and Merck & Co. began to operate in the same national markets, and the need arose to divide the Merck name, which by that time had become one of the most valuable brands in the world. After long negotiations, the companies managed to reach a compromise. Now the rights to the exclusive use of the Merck brand in the USA and Canada belong to the American Merck & Co., and in Europe and all other markets to the German Merck KGaA. For this reason, the German group's products are sold in America under the umbrella brand EMD - after the name of a small pharmaceutical company that Merck KGaA had to buy specifically for this purpose. Products of Merck & Co. Sold worldwide under the Merck Sharp & Dohme brand and in Europe under the MSD Sharp & Dohme brand. Both companies regularly emphasize that Merck KGaA is not the same as Merck & Co.

Today Merck & Co. lost its leading position in the pharmaceutical market, slightly inferior to its main competitors - Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKlein. Analysts attribute the current situation to the figure of the new CEO - Raymond Gilmartin, the first in the history of Merck & Co. economist who took the helm of the company. During the years of his reign, it was not possible to bring to market a single truly new drug. Patents on the most popular drugs, generating billions of dollars in revenue, are inexorably expiring, with no worthy replacement in sight. Merck & Co. is forced to spend more and more money on the development of new drugs (more than $2.5 billion in 2002), but these expenses have not yet brought the expected results. Many analysts see a way out of this situation only by purchasing a company with great research potential.

Merck KGaA is doing better. The German company's business is more diversified, and success in the pharmaceutical industry is successfully combined with strong development in the market of fertilizers, fine chemicals, dyes, reagents for chromatography, liquid crystals and other areas chemical industry.

MERCK MEDICATION FAMILY Laboratories is a company whose history dates back to 1668, when Frederick Jacob Merck founded the chemical and pharmaceutical company Merck KgaA in Darmstadt (Germany)...

MERCK MEDICATION FAMILY Laboratories is a company whose history dates back to 1668, when Frederick Jacob Merck founded the chemical and pharmaceutical company Merck KgaA in Darmstadt (Germany).

Currently, MERCK MEDICACION FAMILY Laboratories are one of the most advanced companies in the European dermatocosmetics market.

The company has a strong position not only in Europe, but also in Asia, Africa and the Middle East - in total more than 50 countries where its branches and distributors are located.

The company is constantly developing and annually offers new innovations in the care and treatment of skin diseases.

MERCK MEDICACION FAMILY laboratories present a wide range of dermatocosmetics for the care and combined treatment of the most common skin diseases: acne (acne), oily/combination skin, atopic dermatitis, various types of eczema, psoriasis, constitutionally dry skin, pigmentation disorders and photoaging.

The EXFOLIAC, EXFOLIAC FAM, ICLEN, PSORIAN, EXEAN and AMILAB lines can be recommended for prescription by doctors in complex therapy for the treatment of skin diseases and for independent use at home for daily care.

Connection of pharmaceutical giantsMerckAndSchering- Plow

Pharmaceutical giants Merck and Schering-Plough merge 03/12/2009 - 16:02, Strf.ru

Pharmaceutical companies Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE: MRK) and Schering-Plough Corporation (NYSE: SGP) today announced that their boards of directors have unanimously approved a definitive merger agreement under which Merck and Schering-Plough will merge under the Merck name in a transaction that will be completed in shares and cash.

Under the terms of the agreement, Schering-Plough shareholders will receive 0.5767 shares and $10.50 in cash for each Schering-Plough share. Each Merck share automatically becomes a share of the combined company. The combined company will be led by Merck Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Richard T. Clark.

Based on Merck's closing stock price on March 6, 2009, Schering-Plough shareholders should receive $23.61 per share, or a total of $41.1 billion. This price includes a premium to Schering-Plough shareholders of approximately 34% based on Schering-Plough's closing share price on March 6, 2009. Compensation also includes a bonus of approximately 44% of the average closing stock price of both companies over the last 30 trading days.

Upon completion of the transaction, Merck shareholders should own approximately 68% of the combined company, and Schering-Plough shareholders should own approximately 32%. Merck believes the transaction will have a moderate accretive effect on non-GAAP earnings per share for the first full year following completion of the transaction and a significant accretive effect thereafter.

“We are creating a strong, global healthcare leader positioned for sustainable growth and success,” Clark said. “The combined company will benefit from enormous research and development benefits, a significantly expanded portfolio of medicines and an expanded presence in key markets. international markets, particularly in fast-growing emerging markets. Positive effects The value we gain from this combination will enable us to invest in strategic opportunities and create meaningful value for shareholders."

In turn, Fred Hassan, Chairman and CEO of Schering-Plough, said: “Over the past six years, my colleagues at Schering-Plough have transformed our company into strong competitor in the global pharmaceutical industry. We have a strong, diverse business and a strong pipeline of products in development that offer hope to patients waiting for new drugs. We are joining forces with Merck - our long-time cholesterol joint venture partner - to create a dynamic new leader in pharmaceuticals. Using strengths"As both companies, the new combined structure will be well positioned to further our shared goal of discovering new medicines that help patients lead healthier, happier lives."

As experts note, the merger of companies significantly expands Merck's drug portfolio, which is an engine of constant and sustainable growth. This is partly due to the addition of meaningful products that maintain their exclusivity over time. Using the company's expanded product portfolio, Merck expects to gain additional opportunities to increase profits.

Thus, the combined company will have greater ability to manage the life cycle through the introduction of potentially new combinations and technologies for the preparation of current products. In addition, both Merck and Schering-Plough have drug candidates with high potential in early, mid- and late-stage development. The deal will double Merck's pipeline of drug candidates in Phase III development to 18.

The combined company will have a more diverse portfolio spanning important therapeutic areas including cardiovascular, respiratory, oncology, neurology, infectious diseases, immunology, women's health and others.

In addition, the transaction strengthens Merck's 50-year specialty in cardiovascular disease. The addition of cholesterol drugs ZETIA (ezetimibe) and VYTORIN2 (ezetimibe/simvastatin) to Merck's cardiovascular portfolio will facilitate the combined company's approach to the cardiovascular market and create new opportunities to leverage the cholesterol franchise through the creation of new drug combinations.

Finally, the addition of Schering-Plough's thrombin receptor antagonist, a first-in-class antiplatelet drug candidate, to other late-stage development candidates further complements Merck's Phase III cardiovascular pipeline and will position the combined company to further deliver meaningful products to patients in this important therapeutic area.

The combination with Schering-Plough also expands Merck's strong respiratory franchise with several additional products, including asthma and allergic rhinitis products.

Schering-Plough's current oncology products will enable Merck to expand its presence in this area and provide the necessary foundation to take advantage of the combined company's promising pipeline pipeline.

Schering-Plough's strong research and development capabilities in this area complement Merck's ongoing neuroscience developments, which include drug candidates for migraines and sleep disorders. In addition to both companies' neurological products already on the market, Schering-Plough has a number of promising candidates in late-stage development, including SAPHRIS (asenapine), an antipsychotic for the treatment of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, and BRIDION (suggamadex), an antipsychotic drug. anesthesia.

Schering-Plough and Merck have complementary infectious disease programs. The combined company will leverage both the scientific and commercial strengths of Schering-Plough and Merck in the treatment of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV). Schering-Plough's strong pipeline of anti-hepatitis candidates, including boce-previr, aligns well with Merck's programs in this important area.

Schering-Plough has the rights to distribute outside the United States REMICADE (infliximab), an established biologic product for the treatment of inflammatory/immunological diseases, and SIM-PONI (golimumab), which was approved in Europe in March 2008, as well as a number of other promising products under development.

Merck expects to benefit from a strong portfolio of women's health products, including GARDASIL, a recombinant quadrivalent vaccine against human papillomaviruses (types 6, 11, 16 and 18), a broad range of contraceptives and biologic and small molecule fertility products. This portfolio will allow the company to strengthen its relationships with service providers in the women's health sector.

Schering-Plough brings a well-developed animal health business to the combined company. This includes vaccines and small molecule drugs, as well as many attractive consumer brands such as CLARITIN, COPPERTONE, DR. SCHOLL'S and MI-RALAX.

Merck and Schering-Plough are known for their success in breakthrough research and scientific discovery. The combined company will have a deeper and broader pipeline of products in development and many promising drug candidates. With greater resources, the combined company will have the financial flexibility to invest in these drugs and in external research and development capabilities, and build on the legacy of both companies.

Schering-Plough generates 70% of its revenue outside the United States, with more than $2 billion of annual revenue coming from emerging markets. This will dramatically accelerate Merck's efforts to drive the company's international growth, including its goal of achieving 5 percent market share in target emerging markets. The combined company will have a leading global marketing and sales team. In addition, with increased geographic diversification of the business, the combined company is expected to generate over 50% of its revenues outside the United States.

It is expected that the combined manufacturing enterprises Merck and Schering-Plough will significantly enhance manufacturing capabilities, providing additional capacity to support expected growth in the biologics and sterile dosage forms segment. Merck will achieve even greater synergies by applying its lean manufacturing and supply strategies to the expanded operations.

The two companies' combined 2008 revenues were $47 billion. Upon closing of the transaction, the combined company will have a strong balance sheet with cash and capital balances of approximately $8 billion. Merck believes it will maintain its current credit ratings. In addition, the combined company's broad product portfolio is expected to provide strong cash flow.

Following the closing of the transaction, Merck's board of directors intends to maintain dividends at current levels. Merck now pays an annual dividend of $1.52 per share, representing a threefold increase for Schering-Plough shareholders. In addition, following the closing of the transaction, the combined company will continue Merck's share repurchase program.

Merck expects to achieve significant cost reductions of approximately $3.5 billion per year after 2011. These savings are expected to be realized across all segments of the combined company and the full integration of the Merck/Schering-Plough Pharmaceuticals cholesterol JV. These cost reductions will complement previously announced ongoing cost reduction measures at both companies.

Upon closing of the transaction, the board of directors of the combined company will consist of members of the board of directors of Merck and three representatives of the board of directors of Schering-Plough. Richard T. Clark will become chairman, president and chief executive officer of the combined company. Fred Hassan, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer of Schering-Plough, will continue to lead Schering-Plough's operations and intends to participate in integration planning until the completion of the transaction.

Merck's integration team will be led by Adam Schechter, president of Global Pharmaceuticals, who will report to Clark. Schering-Plough's integration team will be led by Brent Saunders, senior vice president and president of Consumer Health Care. He will report to Hassan. The main priority is to retain the best talent from both companies. Taking into account that the merger will lead to a strong consolidation organizational structure Merck expects the bulk of Schering-Plough employees to remain with the combined company.

Merck & Co., Inc. is a global research and pharmaceutical company that always puts patients first. Merck was founded in 1891. Today, the company discovers, develops, manufactures and markets vaccines and medicines to meet existing medical needs.

Schering-Plough is an innovative, science-driven global healthcare company. Through its own biopharmaceutical research and collaboration with partners, Schering-Plough creates medicines that help save and improve lives around the world. The company uses its research and development platform to develop human medicines, animal health products, and consumer health products. Thirteen years ago, Merck partnered with the British bank Abbey National to register a company in Bermuda, to which it transferred patents on some of its best-selling cholesterol-lowering drugs, Zocor and Mevacor. The company needed this to reduce taxes on drug sales after deductions for depreciation of the asset expired. In the traditional way, Merck created an offshore company, MSD Technology, in which a British bank, which paid several hundred million dollars for its stake, became a junior partner. According to British law, he practically did not have to pay taxes. Merck itself did not have to pay taxes. That saved the company $1.5 billion in taxes over the next 10 years. Merck admits no wrongdoing in the scheme it needed to buy Medco Containment Services in 1993, but expects it will have to pay back tax service, IRS, more than $2.3 billion in unpaid taxes, interest and penalties. Other details of the possible transaction are not specified in the company's document filed with the US Tax and Revenue Commission.

The American government began to pursue tax avoidance due to differences in the laws of different jurisdictions relatively recently. The point of the scheme is to arrange transactions in such a way that the amounts received are taxed not according to US laws, but according to the laws of the country where they are more lenient. Just before the adoption of legislation designed to fill the tax gap, partnerships under the scheme used by Merck managed to create several large companies.

The IRS has not yet commented on its claims against Merck, but is already taking action against Dow Chemical and General Electric, which created similar companies around the same period. According to authorities, these transactions, formally called partnerships, were actually loan agreements and Merck, like other companies, had to pay taxes on interest payments on the loans. In August, a US appellate court ruled that in GE's case, the company's foreign bank partners could not be considered members of the partnership, which could allow the government to recover $62 million in unpaid taxes from the company. The company, however, plans to demand a rehearing of the case. Dow Chemical, which is being tried in another court, is accused by the IRS of evading $130 million in taxes by forming a partnership that allowed money to be transferred to a consortium of German, Dutch, British and Belgian banks. Dow Chemical also does not admit guilt and is suing the authorities. During the investigation, the US Department of Justice expects to receive important information, including regarding the Merck scheme, from the Goldman Sachs Group bank, which took part in creating the partnerships of both companies.

Merck's tussle with tax officials comes alongside a legal battle that could cost the company another $4 billion. It faces 14,000 lawsuits over alleged health hazards associated with its painkiller Vioxx. In addition, Merck, like other pharmacists, faces expiration of patents on some of its leading drugs, and new developments obviously will not make up for revenue losses. Merck & Co., Inc. and Santen enter into a licensing agreement for tafluprost, the first preservative-free prostaglandin eye drops for the treatment of elevated intraocular pressure in open-angle glaucoma and ocular hypertension.

Merck & Co., Inc., which operates as Merck Sharp & Dohme, or MSD, in many countries, and Santen Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. announced today that it has entered into a worldwide licensing agreement for tafluprost, a prostaglandin analogue to reduce elevated intraocular pressure in open-angle glaucoma and ocular hypertension. Tafluprost - in preservative-free form and with a preservative - is approved for sale in a number of European and Scandinavian countries, as well as in Japan. In addition, applications for such approval have been submitted in some other markets in the European and Asia-Pacific regions. In the United States, tafluprost has experimental drug status.

Under the terms of the agreement, Merck will pay an undisclosed licensing fee and will also make milestone payments and royalties based on future sales of tafluprost (both preservative-containing and non-preservative-containing products) in exchange for receiving exclusive commercial rights on tafluprost in most countries of Eastern Europe, Northern Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, including Japan. Merck will support Santen in promoting the product in Germany and Poland. If tafluprost is approved for sale in the United States, Santen may participate in the promotion of the drug in this country.

Tafluprost is a synthetic analogue of prostaglandin F2α. It has a relaxing effect on the muscles of the eye, promoting the outflow of fluid and thus reducing pressure. Topical prostaglandin is currently the most common therapy for glaucoma and ocular hypertension worldwide.

"Many patients suffer from various eye diseases and cannot tolerate existing treatments," said Professor Christophe Baudouin from the Quinze-Vingts National Hospital Center for Ophthalmology in Paris, France. – “The drug tafluprost, which is the first preservative-free prostaglandin, is an important new therapeutic option for the treatment of increased intraocular pressure in open-angle glaucoma and ocular hypertension. The advent of a preservative-free drug gives glaucoma patients the missing medical product".

"The agreement announced today is a significant milestone in the development and commercialization of tafluprost," said Akira Kurokawa, president and chief executive officer of Santen Ltd. “Through the licensing agreement with Merck, we will be able to significantly expand our access to additional markets.”

“The license for tafluprost from Santen, a company with extensive experience in eye medicines, strengthens our broad portfolio of topical products for glaucoma patients,” said Vlad Hogenhuis, senior vice president and general manager, neurology. and Ophthalmology, Merck & Co., Inc. “After 50 years, Merck continues its ophthalmology research, expanding its global reach to offer patients new therapeutic options.”

Tafluprost

Tafluprost, produced with the addition of a preservative and in preservative-free form, belongs to the class of prostaglandins - the leading class of antiglaucoma drugs. Tafluprost is approved for sale in markets including Germany and Japan and is indicated to reduce elevated intraocular pressure (IOP) in open-angle glaucoma and ocular hypertension. Tafluprost, the first preservative-free prostaglandin eye drops, can be used as monotherapy to treat patients who benefit from preservative-free prostaglandin eye drops or who are insufficiently responsive or contraindicated or intolerant to first-line therapy. Tafluprost is approved in 11 countries and is sold under the brand name TAFLOTAN™ in Germany, Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Norway. In authorized markets where Merck has exclusive rights, tafluprost is marketed under the brand name SAFLUTAN™.

In clinical studies, more than 1,200 patients were treated with tafluprost either as monotherapy or as add-on therapy to timolol 0.5%. The most common adverse reaction was ocular hyperemia. It occurred in approximately 13% of patients participating in clinical trials of tafluprost in Europe and the USA. In most cases, this reaction was mild. Other treatment-related adverse reactions included subsequent (≥1% before<10%) зуд в глазах, раздражение глаз, боль в глазах, изменение ресниц (удлинение, повышение густоты и увеличение численности), сухость глаз, обесцвечивание ресниц, ощущение инородного тела в глазу, эритема век, затуманенное зрение, повышенная слезоточивость, пигментация век, выделения из глаз, снижение остроты зрения, фотофобия, отечность век и повышенная пигментация роговицы. Поверхностный точечный кератит был нетипичным явлением. Тафлупрост противопоказан пациентам и повышенной чувствительностью к таплуфросту или любым его составляющим.

Glaucoma

Glaucoma usually begins with subtle loss of side (peripheral) vision and can progress to loss of central vision or blindness, as if looking through an increasingly narrower tube. It is the leading cause of preventable blindness and is often called the "sneak thief of sight" because it has no symptoms and does not cause pain. As a result, up to 50% of people may not know they have the disease. Currently, more than 60 million people worldwide have glaucoma.

Merck & Co., Inc. (Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, USA) operates in many countries as Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD) and is a global research and pharmaceutical company that puts patients first. Merck was founded in 1891. Today, the company discovers, develops, manufactures and markets vaccines and medicines to meet existing medical needs. The company is making great efforts to improve drug supply. To do this, she implements extensive programs in which she not only donates medicines, but also helps deliver them to those people who need them. Merck also publishes objective news materials as a non-profit service. For more information, visit www.merck.com.

This press release contains forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Litigation Reform Act. securities from 1995. Such statements are based on management's current expectations and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in such statements. Forward-looking statements may include statements regarding product development, product capabilities or financial results. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed and actual results may differ materially from those projected. Merck undertakes no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. The forward-looking statements in this press release should be considered in light of the many uncertainties that affect Merck's business, particularly those set forth in the risk factors section and in Item 1A of Merck's Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008 , and the company's periodic reports on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K, which are incorporated herein by reference. The new Merck, known outside the US and Canada as MSD, is a global leader in healthcare. It aims to provide unique, innovative products and services that save and improve people's lives. At the same time, MSD meets all consumer needs and creates long-term shareholder value for investors.

“We are extremely optimistic about the prospects this merger opens up. Russia is an integral part of the company's constantly growing global market. We currently sell more than 70 pharmaceuticals, vaccines, over-the-counter and veterinary products in the Russian Federation and conduct more than 70 clinical studies,” says Boris Braun, vice president of the company and managing director of MSD in Russia.

As Boris Brown further states: “This is a significant time for our company as we position ourselves as a global healthcare leader that will make a difference in the lives of our patients. Thanks to the talent and dedication of both companies' scientists, the combined company has significant new drug development efforts that will lead to new medicines for patients. We will continue to meet and exceed our customers' expectations by providing them with high-quality products and services."

New MSD is an international leader in the healthcare industry with a broad portfolio of prescription drugs, vaccines, over-the-counter products and veterinary products. This portfolio is strengthened by a pipeline of drugs in various stages of development, of which more than 15 promising drugs in critical therapeutic categories are in late stages.

Today, MSD has more than 106,000 employees in more than 140 countries, including emerging markets. MSD expects to generate more than 50 percent of the company's total revenue outside the United States. American pharmaceutical company Merck & Co has agreed to take over rival Schering-Plough for $41 billion. MarketWatch reports this. In the context of the financial crisis, this transaction could become one of the largest in 2009.

According to the terms of the agreement, Schering-Plough shareholders will receive $10.5 and 0.5767 Merck shares for each security of the company. That makes the deal 34 percent higher than Schering-Plough's average market capitalization over the last 30 days. During recent stock exchange sessions, Schering-Plough shares have been rising in price on rumors of a merger with Merck or Johnson & Johnson, Bloomberg notes.

Merck economists estimate that the merger will save the companies about three and a half billion dollars annually through cost reductions. Following the merger, the company will retain the Merck name. The new concern will be headed by Merck CEO Richard Clark.

For Merck, the deal is beneficial because Schering-Plough has drugs undergoing final trials that could eventually take a significant market share. Their annual sales are estimated at six billion dollars.

Schering-Plough was founded in 1851 in Germany, but is now an American company with annual revenues of more than $12 billion. Merck, in turn, was founded in the United States in 1891 as a subsidiary of the German Merck. Now this company is considered one of the largest pharmaceutical concerns in the world with annual revenues of $23 billion. The management of Merck, one of the largest pharmaceutical concerns in the world, announced that it plans to reduce the cost of television advertising for new drugs, redirecting the freed-up funds to advertising on specialized Internet sites. This, according to Merck representatives, will make it possible to precisely reach the target audience. By changing its strategy, the American pharmaceutical concern intends to regain lost sales volumes and pursue a more effective marketing policy.

The change in strategy was announced by the new vice president of Merck, Peter Lescher, who was invited to the company in May 2006. In his first interview since being appointed to this post, he emphasized that a combination of factors such as changes in audience media preferences and the need for more efficient use of advertising resources could seriously influence changes in marketing strategies in the pharmaceutical market. Merck, he said, is currently conducting a thorough review of its sales and reviewing its marketing strategy.

“The new marketing model will move away from broadcast audience reach in its classical sense. We have to do this because our consumer, who sits in front of the TV screen, is constantly changing channels,” Lesher explained. Merck will experiment with different media, he said. “This will not mean a complete abandonment of television advertising on terrestrial television,” he emphasizes. “However, the company intends to move away from mass audience coverage. Instead, Merck intends to better study the target audience and provide more “targeted” messages directly to them.

“We try to identify specific consumer groups so that we can target more accurately and use more varied marketing techniques,” explains Lesher. The company, he said, is exploring various advertising platforms and plans to promote its products to specific audiences in online communities and forums.

The pharmaceutical industry, including Merck, is one of the top twenty-five largest advertiser industries in the United States, notes the Financial Times. Today, television is overflowing with drug advertising, and online advertising by drug manufacturers continues to grow in terms of both the possibilities and sophistication of interaction with the consumer. Employees of the German pharmaceutical company Merck have found that generally accepted information about the history of the widely used drug ecstasy is incorrect. This was reported by the Guardian newspaper with reference to a report published in the journal Addiction.

Ecstasy, known pharmacologically as MDMA, was developed by Merck in 1912. It was previously thought that the drug was created to suppress the appetite of German army soldiers, but the plan failed due to reports of strange side effects in early human trials. After which, as can be read in many sources, the synthesized substance did not find any use until the seventies.

This version of events regularly appears in medical reports, newspaper articles, textbooks and even on the official website of the US Drug Enforcement Administration.

Merck conducted research into thousands of archival documents stored in the archives at its head office in Darmstadt. All references to MDMA in laboratory journals, annual reports, patents, letters, interview notes, and memoirs from 1900 to 1960 were reviewed.

As it turns out, the company actually developed the drug in 1912. However, the author of the substance is not Fritz Haber, but Anton Kollisch, who died in 1916.

6.21 Merck Pharmaceutical Corporation

There is no mention of experiments testing the biological effects of MDMA. Simply put, contrary to popular belief, at the beginning of the century ecstasy was not tested at all on animals or humans.

On the other hand, it also turned out to be untrue that the developers of ecstasy no longer showed interest in MDMA. In 1927, a test was carried out on animals. Its details are unknown, but apparently a company researcher named Max Oberlin suggested that MDMA's effects could mimic those of the "stress hormone" adrenaline, as it has a similar structure.

Oberlin called the results of his work "somewhat remarkable," but the study was abandoned due to soaring prices for the reagents needed to make the drug. However, he recommended that the company "keep this area under review."

After World War II, MDMA research was conducted in US Air Force laboratories. Legend has it that ecstasy was tested as part of the search for a “truth serum” - a chemical substance that forces a person to reveal all their secrets during interrogations. However, MDMA was actually tested on animals. Most likely, this means that it was one of many candidates for the role of a chemical warfare agent.

At Merck, the first researcher to use MDMA in humans (in 1959) may have been Wolfgang Fruhstorfer, but this could not be proven with certainty. In 1960, an article was published about ecstasy in a Polish scientific journal. There is still a gap in the further evolution of our knowledge about ecstasy. What is known for sure is that in the seventies, ecstasy was already found in tablets circulating on the black market in the United States.

The history of the research and spread of MDMA in the following decades, on the contrary, is very well known. In the early 70s, American biochemist Alexander Shulgin was told about ecstasy. In 1976, he synthesized the drug and tested it on himself. This was the first recorded use of MDMA as a psychoactive drug.

Merck and Co. announced positive data from a new subgroup analysis of a Phase III trial comparing the company's integrase inhibitor Isentress with efavirenz, an antiretroviral drug given to treatment-naïve HIV patients. According to the company, Isentress was as effective as efavirenz in suppressing viral load and providing improved immune system function in a wide range of patient subgroups over 48 weeks. The use of Isentress in treatment-naïve patients with HIV is an investigational treatment.

In other phase III studies (BENCHMRK-1 and?2), Isentress combined with optimized background therapy (OBT) demonstrated greater viral load reduction than placebo plus OBT over 96 weeks of treatment in previously treated patients with HIV-resistant HIV. 3 classes of antiretroviral drugs for which antiretroviral therapy was ineffective.

The company said Isentress is the first integrase inhibitor approved for use in combination with other antiretroviral drugs for the treatment of treatment-experienced adult patients with HIV-1 with demonstrated viral replication of HIV-1 strains that are resistant to multiple antiretroviral drugs. This indication is based on clinically demonstrated reductions in plasma HIV-1 RNA levels after 48 weeks in two controlled Isentress studies.

These studies involved adult patients who had already undergone treatment, receiving the newest antiretroviral drugs of three classes - nucleoside and non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors, protease inhibitors. In these studies, use of other active agents with Isentress was associated with a higher likelihood of response to therapy. The company noted that the safety and effectiveness of Isentress has not been demonstrated in treatment-naive adult patients or children.

Sources

wikipedia.org Wikipedia The free encyclopedia

storybrand.ru Site about the history of the creation of world brands, brands, companies, firms, organizations

7220000.ru Business Empire

science.aspx Science and technology of the Russian Federation

Many German companies have long become reliable and promising partners of Russia and are making a significant contribution to the expansion of our economic ties. One such company is Merck. Jurgen Koenig, President and General Director of Merck in Russia and the CIS, spoke about the present day and plans for the future of RG.

Jürgen König: In the Life Science sector, Merck has focused on technology transfer for research and production. Photo: Merck press service

Mr. Koenig, Merck has undergone a number of major changes over the past few years. What are the most important ones?

Jurgen König: In 2018, Merck will celebrate its 350th anniversary. Since its founding in 1668, our company has gone through a long journey of transformation from a small pharmacy to a diversified chemical and pharmaceutical company. The last 10 years have seen the most radical and important changes. With the merger of Serono's business, the divestment of generics, and the creation of a strategic alliance in the field of oncology research with Pfizer, we became a leader in the biopharmaceutical market. Following the successful acquisition of two American companies, Millipore and Sigma-Aldrich, we have become the international market leader in Life Science. Thus, Merck transformed from a chemical and pharmaceutical company into a scientific and technological company with strong positions in three business sectors - healthcare, Life Science and the production of high-tech materials. We have also significantly expanded the geography of our global presence in the most dynamically developing regions, such as Africa, where we see enormous potential for development.

Is the transformation at Merck based primarily on acquiring promising assets and divesting non-core assets?

Jurgen König: Successful transformation requires major changes throughout the organization and improved performance. Following a business restructuring, we have streamlined our organizational structure while investing in employee training and development. At the same time, we concentrated on optimizing a number of processes and integrating new assets. In particular, we have combined all our assets in the Life Science sector (Merck Millipore and Sigma-Aldrich) into one structure. We are also developing a single global corporate headquarters in Darmstadt, where we opened an innovation center and expanded support for start-ups and young scientists from around the world under its roof. We believe that our company, having enormous innovative potential, should not stand aside from digitalization. Therefore, we are not only investing in the development of our digital solutions and e-commerce platform, but also developing a fundamentally new digital platform within the company.

Is the company ready for the same dynamic development in the future in order to respond to new challenges of the time?

Jurgen König: Even though Merck will soon celebrate its 350th anniversary, we are committed to keeping things cutting-edge. We have always developed innovative potential and business in future-oriented industries. Merck created the technology for producing liquid crystals, which are now widely used in the production of televisions, computers and mobile gadgets - we own about 60 percent of the market for these products. Based on the results of our own research, we bring digital devices and technologies to the market for healthcare, moving from the production of only drugs to the development of comprehensive technological solutions designed to improve the quality of life of patients. In 2015, our investments in R&D amounted to 1.7 billion euros. Our Life Science business has become one of the most promising and future-oriented, as it helps researchers and companies in industries such as biopharmaceuticals and food and beverage production to significantly improve the quality of their products and become truly competitive in the international market . This proves that Merck has transformed from a chemical and pharmaceutical company into a scientific and technological company and we will continue to invest in the development of new technologies.

We maintain organic growth in many of our traditional markets, but are expanding aggressively in the most promising markets that our experts predict have high growth potential. In these regions, we launch acceleration programs and support local startups focused on new technologies not only in our traditional sectors such as biopharma, but also in Life Science, IT and digital sectors.

In 2018, Merck is also preparing to celebrate the 120th anniversary of its presence on the Russian market. What is the company's strategy in Russia today?

Jurgen König: Russia has become the third export market for Merck after the UK and the USA. The company opened its representative office here in 1898. And now we remain committed to business development in Russia. Here we are present in our three key business sectors - healthcare, Life Science and high-tech materials. In 2013, the company adopted a new development strategy in Russia, which is based on several priorities. In healthcare, we are focused on localization and repatriation of our key products. Merck has already launched localization projects with two Russian partners for the production of strategically important biopharmaceuticals for the treatment of multiple sclerosis, cancer, cardiovascular diseases and diabetes. We have also begun repatriating our products, which were previously promoted in Russia by our partners, in order to ensure uninterrupted supply of these vital drugs to patients. The processes of localization and repatriation are accompanied by the transfer of technology to Russia, which is also associated with significant investments.

We believe that the Russian economy will show positive trends

In the Life Science sector, Merck has focused on technology transfer for research and production. The company provides its clients from manufacturing and research centers with high-quality technological solutions that allow them to develop innovative drugs and conduct complex, high-precision studies. Our involvement in this sector is very high. In particular, we opened our own Life Science laboratory in 2015. It is focused on providing our partners and clients from industries such as industry, research and development and academic centers with the most advanced technologies recognized by the international scientific community. We work in close cooperation with a wide range of Russian R&D centers and technology clusters. Some of our testing centers are available to all resident companies of these technology parks, for example, in Novosibirsk. We are confident that our technologies can help ensure that the products of Russian pharmaceutical and food production companies become fully competitive on the international market.

In the high-tech materials sector, we supply only the safest and most effective products to Russia; For example, our repellent ingredient is part of the only product produced in the country that is completely safe for children aged 12 months and older. And our pigments are used in the production of new models of the most popular Russian cars.

How does the current state of the Russian economy affect Merck's business?

Jurgen König: When developing a development strategy for Russia in 2013, we conducted serious research and assessed various scenarios from conservative to optimistic and very positive. Despite some current fluctuations, we believe that the Russian economy will demonstrate positive trends in the future. Even in conditions when many international companies were leaving the Russian market, we expanded our presence here and even more than doubled the number of employees, launched several investment projects and ensured stable technology transfer. In turn, we expect Russian government agencies to take more active steps to establish an investor-friendly regulatory regime, in particular, in ensuring that a mechanism for regulating price parameters in the pharmaceutical sector is adequate to the economic situation. Currently and in the long term, we clearly see Merck as a stable and reliable partner of the Russian government, Russian business and, of course, the Russian population.

Reference

Merck is a leading science and technology company in the fields of healthcare, Life Science and high-tech materials. Near

Merck's 50,000 employees around the world develop technologies that improve people's lives, from developing therapies to treat cancer and multiple sclerosis to developing innovative systems for scientific research, producing liquid crystals for smartphones and LCD TVs. In 2015, the company generated sales of 12.8 billion euros in 66 countries.