Merck to sell Consumer Care business to Bayer for $14.2bn

As part of the deal, Bayer will acquire Merck’s existing OTC business, including the global trademark and prescription rights for Claritin and Afrin.

Merck has also entered into clinical development collaboration with Bayer to market and develop its portfolio of soluble guanylate cyclase (sGC) modulators including Adempas (riociguat) and vericiguat.

Adempas is approved for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and is the first and only drug treatment approved for patients with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH).

Currently, Adempas is marketed in the US and Europe for both PAH and CTEPH and in Japan for CTEPH.

Both the firms will equally share costs and profits from the collaboration and implement a joint development and commercialization strategy.

In exchange for these broad collaboration rights, Bayer will receive an up-front payment of $1bn with the potential for additional milestone payments upon the achievement of agreed-upon sales goals.

Merck chairman and chief executive officer Kenneth Frazier said the sale of the company’s consumer care business is part of its efforts to ensure that assets within its portfolio align with its core strategy, have industry-leading potential and generate long-term shareholder value.

"By unlocking value in Merck Consumer Care, we’re able to further our goal of being the premier research-intensive biopharmaceutical company through targeted investments that strengthen our product portfolio and enhance our pipeline," Frazier said.

Bayer chairman of the Board of Management Marijn Dekkers said Merck Consumer Care is a strong business with a portfolio of well-established product brands, such as Claritin, Afrin and Coppertone, that are leaders in their respective categories.

"The combination of Merck Consumer Care’s complementary portfolio of products and geographic reach with Bayer’s will create a global consumer care business better positioned to serve consumers around the world," Dekkers said.

"We look forward to having the talents of the Merck team, with their track record of innovation, joining our strong Consumer Care team at Bayer HealthCare."