Merck & Co announced plans on Thursday to cut an additional US$1 billion in costs through 2010 and focus its research on medicines for the most common diseases.
The struggling drugmaker, which has been hammered by mounting lawsuits, falling revenue and profit, and sharply depressed stock as generic competition looms for its top drug, also reaffirmed its earnings forecasts for this year and next.
Merck shares were up US$0.60, or 2 percent, at US$29.80 in midday trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
The new cost cuts, to be achieved through redesigning business operations, were disclosed at Merck's annual business briefing with analysts at its New Jersey headquarters. They follow Merck's Nov. 28 announcement that it will eliminate 7,000 jobs and close or sell eight factories and research facilities to lower expenses by US$3.5 billion to US$4 billion through the decade's end.
Meanwhile, Merck said the number of lawsuits filed over Vioxx, the blockbuster painkiller it withdrew last year because of increased cardiac risks, had risen to 9,200 as of Nov. 30, including 188 potential class action suits. About half the lawsuits are to be heard in federal court, and the other half have been filed in state court in New Jersey.
"I am determined not to allow the litigation process to disrupt our business operations," Richard Clark, chief executive officer, told the analysts. "We have a lot of work to do to make Merck a leader again."
Merck has slipped from being the world's third-biggest pharmaceutical company to No. 5, by revenue, in the last few years, and it expects sales of its top seller, cholesterol fighter Zocor, to drop to about US$2.45 billion next year from about US$4.35 billion this year because of its June patent expiration.
Some other drugs, including popular osteoporosis pill Fosamax, lose patent protection over the next few years.
Clark said he expects revenue growth starting in 2007 and sustained revenue and profit growth beyond 2010.
Despite growing pricing, regulatory and other pressures on Merck, Clark said the company has great opportunities because of a growing number of ill people around the world, inadequate treatments for diseases such as Alzheimer's and cancer, and expanding access to and insurance coverage for medicines in countries such as China and India.
He said Merck will push for market leadership in those emerging markets, trim its cost structure, revamp both marketing and R&D, and focus on nine priority disease areas.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique