Merck Having Trouble Making Some Women's Health Products
Published March 04, 2011 | Dow Jones Newswires
advertisement
Merck & Co. (MRK) has had temporary supply shortages of certain women's health products in recent months as a result of the integration of operations acquired in the Schering-Plough takeover.
Merck, Whitehouse Station, N.J., didn't specify which products have been affected. Its women's health franchise includes the NuvaRing contraceptive, which had $559 million in 2010 sales, and Follistim AQ infertility treatment, which generated $528 million in sales. Both came with Merck's $49.6 billion acquisition of Schering in late 2009.
Merck disclosed in its annual report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission this week it "is currently experiencing difficulty manufacturing certain women's health products. The company is working to resolve these issues."
Spokesman Steven Campanini said Friday the issues arose "due to integrating the supply chains of legacy Merck and Schering Plough over the past year as we put in place consistent manufacturing and quality standards at our widely expanded network. We've been managing through temporary supply shortages of some of our women's health products since the end of last year."
Merck executives said on a conference call last month that supply challenges for women's health products would hurt first-quarter and 2011 financial results, but didn't quantify the impact.
The Merck-Schering integration included plans announced last year to close eight research sites and eight manufacturing plants, part of Merck's efforts to generate cost savings from the Schering deal.
Merck also has struggled with manufacturing and supply problems in its vaccine operations in recent years, which have hurt sales of products including shingles vaccine Zostavax.
Merck shares fell 18 cents to $32.92 Friday afternoon.
-Peter Loftus, Dow Jones Newswires; +1-215-656-8289; peter.loftus@dowjones.com
--Thomas Gryta contributed to this article.
Copyright © 2011 Dow Jones Newswires
Published March 04, 2011 | Dow Jones Newswires
advertisement
Merck & Co. (MRK) has had temporary supply shortages of certain women's health products in recent months as a result of the integration of operations acquired in the Schering-Plough takeover.
Merck, Whitehouse Station, N.J., didn't specify which products have been affected. Its women's health franchise includes the NuvaRing contraceptive, which had $559 million in 2010 sales, and Follistim AQ infertility treatment, which generated $528 million in sales. Both came with Merck's $49.6 billion acquisition of Schering in late 2009.
Merck disclosed in its annual report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission this week it "is currently experiencing difficulty manufacturing certain women's health products. The company is working to resolve these issues."
Spokesman Steven Campanini said Friday the issues arose "due to integrating the supply chains of legacy Merck and Schering Plough over the past year as we put in place consistent manufacturing and quality standards at our widely expanded network. We've been managing through temporary supply shortages of some of our women's health products since the end of last year."
Merck executives said on a conference call last month that supply challenges for women's health products would hurt first-quarter and 2011 financial results, but didn't quantify the impact.
The Merck-Schering integration included plans announced last year to close eight research sites and eight manufacturing plants, part of Merck's efforts to generate cost savings from the Schering deal.
Merck also has struggled with manufacturing and supply problems in its vaccine operations in recent years, which have hurt sales of products including shingles vaccine Zostavax.
Merck shares fell 18 cents to $32.92 Friday afternoon.
-Peter Loftus, Dow Jones Newswires; +1-215-656-8289; peter.loftus@dowjones.com
--Thomas Gryta contributed to this article.
Copyright © 2011 Dow Jones Newswires