Merck KGaA pleased with Millipore buy, plans resubmission for cladribine and updates on Stimuvax

Speaking at the company's annual general meeting Karl-Ludwig Kley, chairman of the executive board of German drug and chemicals major Merck KGaA, reviewed 2009 and gave shareholders an outlook for the future.

In addition, Dr Kley commented on the recently-announced acquisition of Millipore, saying that its $6-billion buy of the US biotechnology-equipment maker would be "worth every euro." This was biggest takeover for the family-controlled firm since the $13.7 billion purchase of Serono SA in 2007. He also looked at German health-care policies and described Merck's special business model, describing this as once again proving its worth.

He stated: 'First of all, we are adhering to our strategic direction: We are a pharmaceutical and chemical company. We operate in a number of businesses with different risk profiles. Balancing risk is essential for us. Secondly, in our Pharmaceuticals and Chemicals businesses, we will continue to focus on specialty businesses in the future. Competing on price alone and operating in commodity markets is not what we do. And thirdly, we will continue to invest significantly in research and development. That's because new products and solutions are the only way we can help our customers and patients to live a better, and in some cases also a longer, life. Innovation remains our elixir of life.'