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Can Merck Serono Bounce Back?

Merck KGAA’s $13 billion acquisition of Serono in 2006 created an unwieldy pharmaceutical organization further hobbled by expensive clinical setbacks. Seven years later, driven by new leadership, it is in the midst of an overdue transformation.

In 2006, Merck KGAA knew it badly needed to boost its specialty pharmaceutical business, which relied heavily on partial rights to one potential blockbuster oncology asset, Erbitux (cetuximab). That spring it tried to take over compatriot Schering AG, only to be outbid by a friendly Bayer AG. Unbowed – or increasingly restless – in September that year it turned to Serono’s controlling Bertarelli family and quickly brokered a surprise deal that seemed to have the potential to create a mid-sized pharma powerhouse, one with global reach and blockbuster specialty franchises, a diversified therapeutic base, and an honest-to-goodness shot at sustainable growth. (SeeAlso see "European Consolidation: Serious Competition for Big Pharma?" - In Vivo, 1 October, 2006..)

But something went wrong on the road to success.

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Final Chance To Have Your Say: Take Our Reader Survey This Week

 
• By Eleanor Malone

Editor’s note: This is your final call to participate in the survey to better understand our subscribers’ content and delivery needs. The deadline is 20 September.

Early Development Deals: Ipsen's Strategy For Biomarker-Driven Success

 
• By Eliza Slawther

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Shape Our Content: Take The Reader Survey

 
• By Eleanor Malone

Editor’s note: We are conducting a survey to better understand our subscribers’ content and delivery needs. If there are any changes you’d like to see in the coverage topics, content format or the method in which you receive and access In Vivo, or if you love it how it is, now is the time to have your voice heard.

In Partnership with Cerba Research

Prioritizing Safety in CAR-T Therapy: Patient Monitoring with Cerba Research’s Testing Portfolio

The cell and gene therapy (CGT) clinical trial landscape in general and CAR-T cell clinical trials in particular are a special focus for the FDA, EMA, and other regulatory agencies. The whole industry is thus aware of the recent FDA safety investigation and requirements for labeling CAR therapy products.

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