Em­bold­ened by re­cent R&D suc­cess­es, Mer­ck KGaA looks at sell­ing off $1B-plus con­sumer di­vi­sion

En­cour­aged by two no­table drug ap­provals af­ter a long Siber­ian win­ter of fail­ures and set­backs, Mer­ck KGaA has very pub­licly post­ed a ‘for sale’ sign in front of its con­sumer health di­vi­sion.

Backed by a va­ri­ety of brands, the Ger­man Mer­ck says it reaped more than a bil­lion dol­lars in rev­enue from the di­vi­sion. But fol­low­ing the OK on the check­point can­cer drug Baven­cio as well as cladrib­ine — its MS lag­gard now ap­proved in Eu­rope — Mer­ck KGaA is far more whipped up by the po­ten­tial of its pipeline, look­ing to dri­ve home a new rep for clin­i­cal suc­cess which they find far more ex­cit­ing than the con­sumer work.

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