Recent major breakthroughs in the treatment of complex diseases are increasingly due to the use of biopharmaceuticals, in other words active ingredients that have been developed or produced using biotechnology. With the cancer therapy Erbitux® and the multiple sclerosis treatment Rebif®, we have two successful compounds in this drug class in our product portfolio and rank among the leaders in pharmaceutical or “red” biotechnology.

Rebif® is manufactured in Vevey, Switzerland, at the Merck Serono Biotech Center, one of the world’s largest biotech production facilities. This is also where the production of Erbitux® is being prepared. Merck is entering new territory with the start of its own biotechnology production of this drug. The company can draw on the many years of experience of biotech specialists Boehringer Ingelheim Biopharmaceuticals and ImClone Systems Inc. which continue to serve as contract manufacturers of Erbitux®. At the same time, the Merck Serono division is working on numerous new developments in the growth market of biopharmaceuticals that promise therapeutic advances. With Rebif® and Erbitux®, the division has two products that offer new therapeutic possibilities to thousands of patients around the world. Erbitux® for example: The efficacy and versatility of this targeted cancer therapy has been demonstrated in numerous new studies – not only in the battle against colorectal cancer but also in the treatment of head and neck cancer or lung cancer.

Biotechnology research at Merck Serono has also given many patients with multiple sclerosis new prospects for therapy. A new formulation of Rebif®, a drug to treat relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis, has not only improved injection tolerability but also reduced immunogenicity. The European Commission granted approval for the new formulation in August and the market launch began in September 2007.

Biopharmaceuticals such as Rebif® and Erbitux® are core components of a broad portfolio that also benefits substantially from the development of chemical molecules using pharmaceutical chemistry. Researchers at Merck Serono have expertise and experience in both technologies and apply them to drug development in a complementary way.