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Merck shells out $10 billion for London-based Verona

Merck will buy UK-based Verona Pharma for about $10 billion, the companies said today, strengthening the US drugmaker's respiratory treatments as part of efforts to reduce dependence on its blockbuster cancer treatment.

Business • 09 Jul

Merck is estimating $200m in additional costs for tariffs

Merck posts higher profit, puts tariffs cost at $200m

Merck said today its first-quarter adjusted profit rose 7% as lower costs helped offset a 2% decline in sales, reflecting a January decision to pause shipments of its Gardasil vaccine to China due to a downturn in demand.

Business • 24 Apr

Eoin Weldon, Head of Communications; Sandra Galvin, Biotools Production Manager; Mark Dunphy, Site Director and Head of Cork Operations; Nollaig Murphy, HR Business Partner, and Karen O'Connor, Head of Process and Technology at Merck

Merck's new Fertility Benefit Programme for Irish workers

Science and technology company Merck is introducing a new Fertility Benefit Programme in Ireland.

Business • 27 Mar 24

Merck said it will pay $200 per share for the California-based biotechnology company that specialises in treatments for autoimmune diseases

Merck agrees $11 billion deal for Prometheus

Merck & Co is to buy Prometheus Biosciences for about $10.8 billion, picking up a promising experimental treatment for ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease and building up its presence in immunology.

Business • 17 Apr 23

Nearly 30 generic drugmakers will make Merck & Co's Covid-19 pill

Companies to make cheap Covid pill for poorer nations

Nearly 30 generic drugmakers in Asia, Africa and the Middle East will make cheap versions of Merck & Co's Covid-19 pill, under a landmark UN-backed deal to give poorer nations wider access to a drug seen as a weapon in fighting the pandemic.

Business • 20 Jan 22

France had placed an early order for 50,000 doses of the drug molnupiravir developed by Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics

France cancels order for Merck's Covid-19 drug

France has cancelled its order for Merck & Co's Covid-19 antiviral drug following disappointing trial data and hopes instead to receive Pfizer's competing drug before the end of January, the health minister said today.

Business • 22 Dec 21

Nasdaq scales record peak before Apple, Amazon results

The Nasdaq hit a record high on Thursday, led by mega-cap companies Apple, Amazon.com and Tesla, while solid results from Caterpillar and Merck helped investors shrug off signs of slowing economic growth.

Business • 28 Oct 21

Merck sees up to $7 billion in sales of Covid-19 drug

Merck & Co said its experimental Covid-19 drug could bring in between $5 billion and $7 billion in sales up to the end of next year, including up to $1 billion this year if the drug gains US authorisation in December.

Business • 28 Oct 21

On Monday Merck applied for emergency use authorisation in the United States

EU may consider deal on Merck's Covid pill

The European Union may consider signing a supply deal with US drugmaker Merck for its experimental Covid-19 pill, but only after the company starts the process of seeking approval for the drug in the bloc, a senior EU official said on Tuesday.

Business • 12 Oct 21

Merck said the new K2 expansion will enable its Cork site to more than double capacity of its lateral flow membrane

€36m Cork investment by Merck to help combat Covid-19

Merck said its Carrigtwohill facility is in the final stages of a €36m expansion in Cork to meet global demand for its lateral flow membrane, which has significantly increased since the Covid-19 pandemic.

Business • 04 May 21

Merck's consumer health unit includes brands such as Seven Seas, Femibion and Neurobion

P&G to buy German Merck's consumer health business

Procter & Gamble has today announced a deal to buy the consumer health business of Germany's Merck for about €3.4 billion.

Business • 19 Apr 18

Donald Trump was speaking to reporters in Trump Tower

Blame on both sides in Charlottesville clashes - Trump

US President Donald Trump has said both sides were to blame in the clashes in Virginia, adding that protesters on the political left violently attacked white nationalists rallying against a decision to remove a Confederate statue.

US • 15 Aug 17

Merck to buy Sigma-Aldrich for $17 billion

Merck has agreed a deal to buy Sigma-Aldrich for $17 billion in cash to boost its Merck Millipore lab supplies business in the biggest takeover in the German group's history.

Business • 22 Sep 14

Merck agrees deal to expand its portfolio of hepatitis C drugs

Merck to buy Idenix for $3.85 billion

Merck today said it was buying Idenix Pharmaceuticals to expand its portfolio of hepatitis C drugs in a cash deal valued at $3.85 billion.

Business • 09 Jun 14

Germany's Bayer in deal to buy Merck's over-the-counter business

Bayer to buy Merck's OTC business for $14 billion

German chemicals and pharmaceuticals giant Bayer is to acquire the consumer care business of Merck Co in the US for $14.2 billion.

Business • 06 May 14

570 jobs could be lost with the closure of MSD in Swords, Co Dublin

MSD to close Swords plant by 2017, 570 jobs to go

Pharmaceutical firm MSD has announced plans to close its plant in Swords in North Co Dublin by the end of 2017, which would result in the loss of 570 jobs.

Business • 28 Nov 13

Merck's job cut plans will see its global workforce fall by 20% in the coming years

Drug maker Merck to cut a further 8,500 workers

Merck & Co, the second-biggest US drugmaker by sales, will is to let go of 8,500 workers and revamp its research and development after seeing new medicines delayed by US regulators.

Business • 01 Oct 13