MSD basing new spin-off in Lucerne
Lucerne – U.S. pharma group MSD is spinning off its women’s health and biosimilars businesses. The new company Organon & Co will be based in Lucerne. This will create around 150 new jobs in the city.
The U.S. pharma group MSD (Merck Sharp & Dohme) is spinning off its women’s health, proven established brands and biosimilars businesses. They will all flow into a new independent company, Organon & Co. The transaction is expected to be completed during the second quarter of 2021. According to a press release from MSD, Organon & Co will be based in Lucerne. An article in the Luzerner Zeitung newspaper reports that the company is to go public on the New York Stock Exchange in 2021.
The Organon presence in Switzerland will include a wide range of local, regional and global functions, including scientific, medical, commercial and administrative, to name but a few. 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”.
“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.
MSD already has over 1,000 employees in Switzerland. They work 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.
Luzerner Zeitung writes that some of those currently working at MSD Switzerland will move to Organon, but the new spin-off will also create around 150 new jobs in the city.
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.
