Merck Serono
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| Merck Serono | |
|---|---|
| EMD Serono | |
| Type | Stock corporation |
| Founded | 2007 |
| Location | Geneva, Switzerland (Headquarters) |
| Key people | Elmar Schnee CEO |
| Industry | Biotechnology / Pharmaceutical |
| Key Products | Rebif, Gonal-f, Luveris, Ovidrel/Ovitrelle, Serostim, Saizen, Zorbtive and Raptiva, Erbitux |
| Revenue | USD ~5 billion (projected) |
| Website | http://www.merckserono.ch/ |
In September 2006, Merck KGaA announced its intent to purchase the majority of Serono shares from Ernesto Bertarelli and the Bertarelli family. The Merck-Serono merger was announced on September 21, 2006. Merck KGaA and Serono operated as distinct entities until at least January 2007. As of January 5th 2007, Merck held the majority shares of Serono. The new company is called Merck Serono International S.A.
It should be noted that Merck KGaA is a completely separate company from the US company Merck & Co.. Therefore, in the US & Canada, Merck Serono is known as EMD Serono, Inc.
It is expected that Merck Serono will have a research and development budget over € 1 billion.
Currently, its sales forecasts may rank it seventh among pharma-biotechs, with sales rivaling such companies as Sanofi-Aventis. - This is wrong, No. 7 in the Pharma world is maybe Merck & Co., but Merck Serono is much smaller! Merck KGaA is number 23 in the list of Top 50 pharma companies produced by Pharm Exec magazine.
