Merck to spin off new $6.5 billion firm focused on women’s health, older drugs
Merck becomes the latest pharma giant to spin off a new company while keeping highly profitable (and expensive) new drugs aimed at cancer or other diseases.
Merck said Wednesday that it will create a new drug company to sell many of its older, slower-growth products, creating a new pharmaceutical company with $6.5 billion in annual sales focused largely on women’s health drugs like Nexplanon, a long-acting contraceptive implant. It will also sell Merck’s off-patent medicines, including the cholesterol drugs Zetia and Vytorin.
Merck joins rivals including Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline, which have made similar moves.
Carving off 14% of Merck’s sales into what it is still calling “NewCo” should allow the core company to grow faster, attracting investors who want to bet on the
