Thursday, September 19, 2013

"Ridiculous-Ness" Alert! One Pseudo-Pharma Asset Merck Is NOT Acquiring; NOT In-Licensing


From the keyboard of the irrepressible Ed Silverman -- comes this great tidbit.

Whitehouse Station yesterday denied rag-paper rumors that it was acquiring some Chinese pseudo- "superdrug". [With air-quotes, for emphasis!] It denied it would ever pay $1 billion for such a homeopathic. A bit from the item, out of Taiwan local news -- do go read it all:

. . . .The paper said a Hong Kong merchant who claimed he represented "Germany's US pharmaceutical giant Merck" tried to buy a patent for a prescription for a liver cancer treatment from the Anhui-based Jinfang Huaixia Traditional Chinese Medicine Research Center.

The report was first published by the website of the People's Daily on Sept. 9 before it made the rounds of several media outlets.

The report has created a headache for international pharmaceutical companies which use the name Merck. . . .


I couldn't make this up -- if I tried. Of course there is no US based Geman Merck. There is Geman Merck and US Merck. Distinct companies for nearly 80 years.

For the record, the German Merck (again, no relation) has also denied that it has interest in the China operation mentioned. So it goes. Nice try, fella!

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