MSD Merck spin-off establishes its Organon headquarters in Lucerne, Switzerland
This past February 2021, Merck & Co. established the Headquarters for Organon & Co. a standalone, spin-off company dedicated to global leadership in women’s health. This move adds 150-200 jobs to Lucerne’s biopharma ecosystem.
“The establishment of Organon, as a new company, in Lucerne is an asset for our business and innovation location,” commented the Director of Economic Affairs, Fabian Peter.
The new HQ is independent and patient-centric and will include a wide range of local, regional and global functions including Marketing, Quality Control, Supply Chain, and Commercial functions with a focus on Women’s Health, Biosimilars (mostly oncology and inflammatory diseases) and Dermatology, Respiratory, Pain and Cardiovascular. This decision “represents a significant commitment to the city and the canton of Lucerne”. MSD rates the region as a “growing environment for biopharmaceutical innovation and offering unparalleled opportunities”.
Kevin Ali, who has been named CEO of Organon, states: “Organon will set a new direction for the future of women’s health bringing new hope and treatments worldwide while also focusing on its important biosimilars and legacy brands.”
MSD Merck’s commitment to Switzerland
This decision represents a significant commitment to Switzerland and will represent a total revenue of approximately $6.5 Billion for MSD Merck in 2020. With the resulting international footprint, approximately 75% of sales will be generated from ex-U.S. markets and the Lucerne HQ provides significant scale and geographic reach as well as world-class commercial capabilities, for a global pool of 10,000 to 11,000 employees.
MSD already has over 1,000 employees in Switzerland, working across four sites in the canton of Lucerne and one site in the canton of Zurich. MSD’s business activities in Switzerland are subdivided in the two divisions, Human Health and Animal Health. The company conducts 25 clinical trials per year in the country, for which the required medicines are manufactured at its research and development site in Schachen, Lucerne.
MSD had announced its plans to spin-off women’s health as an independent company a year ago, as it wants to strengthen its focus on key drivers in oncology, vaccines, acute care and animal health.
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