Merck pharmaceuticals news
On Dec. 27, 2013, Merck plans to create four innovation hubs to identify external early stage and late-stage R&D opportunities that the pharma could license or acquire. Merck said it plans to base the hubs in or near Boston, San Francisco, London and Shanghai, but declined to provide further details. In October, Roger Perlmutter, EVP and president of the pharma's Merck Research Laboratories unit, told investors that the pharma would have to "do more in terms of looking on the outside for important contributors to our overall therapeutic program." In October, Merck said it would restructure its commercial and R&D operations and also hired Iain Dukes as head of licensing and external scientific affairs at Merck Research Labs. Perlmutter and Dukes came from Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN, Thousand Oaks, Calif.) (see BioCentury, Oct. 7, 2013). ...