Growth for Merck KGaA
pharmafile | March 8, 2013 | News story | Research and Development |
2012 saw German firm’s pharma division helping drive strong sales.
Pharma revenue helped drive growth at Merck KGaA last year, with the German company increasing overall sales by 8.4% compared with 2011 to 10.7 billion euros.
Merck Serono’s sales for the year increased 7.8% year on year to 6 billion euros – although it found conditions in Europe as challenging as most other pharma firms over the last year, with sales there falling 2.1% to 2.5 billion euros.
Overall, a large chunk of sales came from two products: multiple sclerosis drug Rebif grew 7.5% to 1.9 billion euros while cancer treatment Erbitux was up 1.9% to 887 million euros.
North America accounted for 22% of Merck Serono’s sales, while those in emerging markets grew 6.8% to 1.7 billion for 2012.
In 2012 sales in consumer health dropped to 473 million euros (2011: 494 million).
Merck says its ‘Fit for 2018’ policy, announced in February last year and intended to secure long-term competitiveness, saved 115 million euros during 2012.
The bulk of this – 100 million euros – came from streamlining Merck Serono’s operations, and the pharma division also accounted for two-thirds of the 504 million euros of restructuring costs incurred last year.
Last September Merck said it was to cut more than 10% of its workforce in Germany by the end of 2015 as part of the global efficiency programme.
The company announced in April that the HQ of Merck Serono would be moved from Geneva to Darmstadt, with the loss of 500 jobs across Swiss operations and the transfer of another 750 to other locations.
Merck’s group earnings increased by 8.9% to 2.9 billion euros last year and the company says it expects sales for this year and 2014 “to grow organically at a moderate pace”.
There will be no major new pharma launches in either year, it adds.
Merck has experienced a number of regulatory setbacks, including key multiple sclerosis drug cladribine which was expected to reach blockbuster sales, but was scrapped when regulators were unconvinced.
