Schering-Plough to be bought by Merck for US$41.1b
Published: Tuesday | March 10, 2009
In this May 22, 2008, file photo, Merck & Co headquarters is seen in Whitehouse Station, N.J. Merck & Co announced yesterday it was buying Schering-Plough Corp for US$41.1 billion in stock and cash, in a deal that gives the companies more firepower to compete in a drug industry facing slumping sales, tough generic competition and intense cost pressures. - FILE
TRENTON, New Jersey (AP):
Merck & Co is buying Schering-Plough Corporation for US$41.1 billion in stock and cash in a deal that gives the companies more firepower to compete in a drug industry facing slumping sales, tough generic competition and intense pricing pressures.
The deal announced yesterday would unite the maker of asthma drug Singulair with the maker of allergy medicine Nasonex and form the world's second-largest prescription drugmaker. Merck and Schering are already partners in a pair of popular cholesterol fighters, Vytorin and Zetia.
The latest combination comes only a few weeks after Pfizer Inc announced it had agreed to pay US$68 billion for Wyeth.
Slumping sales
Big companies across the pharmaceutical industry are facing slumping sales as the blockbuster drugs of the 1990s lose patent protection, complicated by a dearth of major new drugs coming on the market.
Merck and Schering-Plough, along with most of their rivals, are currently eliminating thousands of jobs and restructuring operations to further cut costs.
"There'll be no immediate changes" to staffing levels, Merck spokeswoman Amy Rose told The Associated Press. "Eventually, we anticipate an approximate 15 per cent reduction in the combined company's headcount," implying nearly 16,000 fewer jobs.
