07.16.09
#4 Merck Serono
Frankfurter Str. 250, D-64293 Darmstadt Germany
Tel: (49) 6151-72-0 Fax: (49) 6151-72-2000
www.merck.de
Headcount | 32,800 | |
Year Established | 1668 | |
Biopharma Revenues** | $7,338 | +20%/+12%* |
Royalty Revenues | $496 | +34%/+25%* |
Total Revenues | $11,120 | +15%/+7%* |
Net Income | $558 | -88%/-89%* |
R&D Budget** | $1,580 | +31%/+22%* |
* converted at avg. exch. rate / based on local currency (Euro)
** Pharma unit only
2008 Top Selling Drugs | |||
Drug | Indication | Sales | (+/-%) |
Rebif | MS | $1,958 | +17% |
Erbitux | oncology | $831 | +29% |
Gonal-f | female fertility | $677 | +14% |
Concor group | heart failure | $637 | +23% |
Glucophage | diabetes | $427 | +17% |
Euthyrox | thyroid | $163 | -13% |
Raptiva | psoriasis | $137 | +31% |
Account for 66% of total biopharma sales, down from 67% in 2007.
PROFILE
In its annual report, Merck Serono refers to 2008 as the Year of Erbitux. Given that the drug gained three new approvals and sales increased 29% (20% in local currency), it’s no wonder! Merck Serono has non-North American rights to Erbitux (it shares rights in Japan with BMS and Lilly). In November 2008, MS began work on a $425 million expansion of the Merck Serono Biotech Center — including manufacturing facilities for Erbitux — in Corsier-sur-Vevey, Switzerland. Erbitux production is expected to start up in 2012, and the expanded area will add 120,000 liters of bioreactor capacity.
Unfortunately, one of MS’s up-and-comers had to be scratched from the lineup. In October 2008, the company reported that a patient taking Raptiva (chronic plaque psoriasis) developed PML (see Biogen Idec’s profile for more on that ailment). The case marked the third Raptiva user to come down with PML; the other two occurred in the U.S., where Genentech markets the drug. After a consultation with the EMEA, MS elected to pull Rapitva from the market, taking a $300 million writedown for production technology.
In better news, MS gained approval for Kuvan, a treatment for hyperphenylalaninemia (HPA) in phenylketonuria, in December 2008. MS has non-North America and non-Japan rights to the drug. The market for the drug isn’t huge — there are around 35,000 people with this condition in the entire European Union — but its benefits are apparently a godsend for people who suffer from HPA. Since Kuvan is an orphan drug, MS will receive 10 years of data exclusivity for it. U.S. development partner Biomarin got the drug on the U.S. market in December 2007 and posted sales of $47 million in 2008.
MS’s parent company, Merck KgA, could use another Year of Erbitux (and Rebif, its top seller, and Gonal-F, etc.). The company’s chemicals division got walloped during the financial crisis. MS is in a comfortable position with Rebif, Erbitux and Gonal-F as its troika. That Serono deal is still paying off.
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