Merck Buys Schering-Plough -- and Time

Merck's acquisition of Schering-Plough is all about buying breathing room, relief from what looks to be a 4-year, 50% earnings decline as key products go generic. Moreover, the relief comes relatively inexpensively (unless J&J steps in with a counteroffer), a fact that reflects Schering's lack of strategic options. In this interview, Merck's R&D boss Peter Kim and chief strategist, Mervyn Turner, explain the key pipeline and marketing complementarities and cost-cutting possibilities which prompted the deal -- and how they plan to integrate the two businesses.

By Roger Longman

It’s difficult to avoid drawing comparisons between the first two Big Pharma acquisitions of 2009. Both Pfizer Inc.’s acquisition...

More from Business Strategy

More from In Vivo

Podcast: ADDF’s Karen Harris On Investing In Alzheimer’s Like A VC

 
• By 

A discussion with Karen Harris, CFO of the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation, about the foundation's investment strategy, biotech and investor sentiment at the recent BIO conference and what innovations give her hope for Alzheimer's patients.

Turning Defense Into Attack: Snapshots Of A Changing Medtech Market And How To Respond

 
• By 

Against a backdrop of shifting trade policies, the end of multilateral market approaches and renewed focus on supply chain resilience, medtechs are doubling down on innovation in products and processes – using AI – and keeping unmet needs and outcomes in the center of the target.

AI Agents Set To Reshape Biopharma’s Workforce And Operations

 
• By 

While biopharma companies experiment with genAI, agentic AI is rapidly shifting the work paradigm towards one of autonomous digital workers that can handle entire process flows.