Merck: Solid growth in the first quarter in the biopharmaceutical sector

In the first quarter of 2015, the Pharmaceutical and Health business achieved an organic sales growth of 0.3%. Overall net sales rose 7.4% to EUR 1.7 billion (Q1 2014: EUR 1.6 billion), including a positive foreign exchange impact of 7.1%. Organic growth in the first quarter of 2015 was driven primarily by drugs for the treatment of diabetes (Ghuachi), drugs for cardiovascular disease (Cono) and drugs for infertility, and the Neurobion brand of drugs promoted by the Consumer Health business contributed significantly to the organic growth. This increase is sufficient to offset a decline in sales of the best-selling drug, Libi, and a surplus. From a geographical perspective, organic sales growth was driven mainly by Latin America and the Asia-Pacific region.
, which is used to treat multiple sclerosis, now faces fierce competition from oral preparations and experienced a severe sales slump in the first quarter of 2015, with organic sales plummeting 15.9 per cent. But with a 9.5 per cent currency, Libi's sales eventually reached 430 million euros. Sales of the cancer drug Abisco fell by 5.9 per cent to 205 million euros. Along with the strong growth trend in the same period last year, the drug gonafen, which treats infertility, achieved a small organic sales increase of 1.7%. Under the influence of positive foreign exchange effect, the final sales reached 164 million euros.
higher spending on research and development, particularly financial support for immuno-oncology projects, coupled with a lack of copyright and licensing revenue and lower profit-to-earnings sales, outweighs the impact of the positive monetary effect. As a result, EBITDA in the pharmaceutical and health business decreased by 3.8% to EUR 461 million in the first quarter of 2015. "In 2015, we plan to invest more in immuno-oncology, and we hope to build a strong position in this emerging research area through our partnership with Pfizer," said Mr. Kolo Wei, Chairman of Merck's Executive Board. Just recently, we launched phase III clinical trials of Avelumab's treatment of non-small cell lung cancer. Five clinical trials are expected this year that are critical to product registration. The same is true in the field of stomach and bladder cancer diseases. theLife Sciences business took a solid step forward in the first quarter
in the first quarter of 2015, the life sciences business showed steady organic sales growth of 3.4%, driven primarily by the good business development of the Process Solutions division, particularly in North America. Excluding the significant positive monetary effect of 9.8% and sales in the Discovery and Development Solutions business, net sales in the life sciences business increased by a total of 12.4% to EUR 738 million (Q1 2014: EUR 657 million).
process solutions division, which provides specialized products and services to the pharmaceutical production value chain, experienced a 5.4% increase in organic sales, driven primarily by the growing demand for single-use and purified solutions in the biotechnology sector. With its wide product line for researchers and science labs, the Laboratory Solutions division achieved organic sales growth of 2.2%. At the same time, the Biosciences Division, which provides specialized products and services to pharmaceutical and academic research laboratories, experienced an organic sales growth rate of 0.5%.
with the consolidation of an intelligence business, Merck is still expected to achieve small organic sales growth in fiscal 2015, and the portfolio effect will be felt accordingly. In addition, strong and positive foreign exchange effects will also contribute to this development attitude. Overall, Merck expects net sales to grow in 2015 to be between 12.3 billion and 12.5 billion euros. Starting in the first quarter of 2015, Merck disclosed agency revenue as part of net sales to better guide each business area. However, this approach has not affected the projections that have been made. According to Merck, EBITDA will remain between 3.45 billion and 3.55 billion euros in 2015 despite increased spending on research and development in the pharmaceutical and health business, weak sales in the U.S. and Europe, and a lack of copyright and licensing revenues. Free cash flow for the entire Merck Group is expected to remain between 2.4 billion and 2.5 billion euros in 2015. (Bio Valley)