Hints and tips:
...The medicine will now be commercialised jointly by EMD Serono, the biopharmaceutical business of Merck in the US and Canada, and Pfizer, its development partner....
...Merck of Germany said on Wednesday it would continue using the Serono and Millipore brands in the US and Canada, where the broader group is known as EMD....
...The German company has become more aggressive in defence of its name in recent months and scrapped two subsidiary brands — Serono and Milipore — which were often used to distinguish it....
...In March, Merck Serono paid an upfront fee of $115m to partner with US-based Intrexon on a novel type of cancer treatment known as Car-T cell therapy, and pledged a further $826m in milestone payments, while...
...They were joined last week by Merck Serono after its co-development deal worth up to $941m with US-based Intrexon....
...They have since become competitors, with German Merck holding worldwide rights to the name except in the US and Canada, where it is known as EMD. US Merck is known as MSD in the rest of the world....
...A partnership with Merck Serono of Germany in November gave Pfizer access to a “cancer immunotherapy” — a promising new category of tumour-fighting drugs being developed by AstraZeneca and others....
...Vlad Andryushchenko, previously at Renaissance Capital in Moscow, takes on a role as senior research analyst while Eoghan McDonagh will handle all EMD trading after moving from the hedge fund Eclectica Asset...
...The US diesel locomotive market is a duopoly of General Electric’s GE Transportation and Caterpillar’s EMD....
...The locomotives might also be able to run further than existing ones between fuelling stops GE’s main rival, the EMD unit of Caterpillar, said locomotives were likely to be able to carry substantial quantities...
...Among the brands is Pharmaline, which has a plant just north of Beirut manufacturing pharmaceuticals for companies such as GlaxoSmithKline and Merck Serono....
...Sanofi, Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca, Novartis and Merck Serono have all cut back facilities and staffing in Europe in recent months, while shifting research investment to locations including Boston...
...In 2011 the company plans to make investments of about $3bn in 2011 and through the end of June, acquisitions of companies such as EMD and Bucyrus coupled with organic growth had boosted the company’s headcount...
...Mr Schnee, a Swiss citizen, had most recently been based primarily in Geneva, where Merck had shifted much of its pharmaceutical centre of gravity following the acquisition of Serono in 2007....
...Jon Little has left BNY Mellon Asset Management to become chief executive of Kedge Capital, a fund management firm owned by the Bertarellis, the family behind biotech group Serono, bought by Merck in 2007...
...Mr Kley acknowledges that there are “some aspects to fix in our pipeline management”, adding that the drug was a legacy from the purchase of Serono in 2006. “We inherited a study design,” he says....
...“I started working for Serono when I was 26 [he is now 45], so I really gave a lot of my time and the best part of my life to that company and the company did well.”...
...He pointed out that the MWM and EMD deals were each stitched together in fewer than 90 days, while the Bucyrus agreement came together in 60 days....
...The world’s big-three passenger train manufacturers – Siemens, France’s Alstom and Canada’s Bombardier – along with GE and Caterpillar’s EMD Division, the dominant forces in diesel locomotives, have long...
...Jeffrey Holford, senior analyst with Jefferies International in London, agrees, pointing out that ahead of Merck’s acquisition of Serono of Switzerland in 2007, its drug margins were modest....
...GE hopes to achieve the same success in Europe with the Powerhaul that EMD has achieved with its Class 66 diesel, of which it has sold 650 since 1998....
...EMD declines to talk about the position, saying it does not discuss future products....
...Mr Bertarelli, one of the richest men in Switzerland, has spent much of his time focusing on sailing since he gave up his seat as chief executive of Serono....
...Among the 18 businesses with drugs that outperformed, smaller companies did disproportionately well, including those produced by the mid-sized groups Serono of Switzerland, Procter & Gamble of the US, Eisai...
...That trumps the valuations of both Serono and Schering, the mid-sized European pharma businesses sold last year....
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