As a result of the strong euro and high oil prices at the beginning of the year, Merck shares suffered with the entire DAX® from fears of only moderate economic growth in Germany. This was followed by a period of uncertainty in which Merck shares remained unchanged in line with the stock markets. At the end of April, the Merck share price recovered and approached its annual high of € 93.79 recorded on January 9, 2008. The capital market’s expectations regarding the approval of the oncology drug Erbitux® for early treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer supported the share price development in the second quarter. A committee of the European Medicines Agency issued a positive opinion on May 30. In addition, Merck shares benefited in the second quarter from expectations of positive study results for Erbitux® in the treatment of lung cancer. Merck presented the data at the beginning of June 2008 in Chicago at ASCO, the world’s most important oncology congress. We received marketing approval for the early use of Erbitux® in colorectal cancer patients on July 23. This included the potential for broad combination with existing chemotherapies; however, it limits the use of the drug to a certain patient group (details in the chapter Merck Serono).
In a market environment of continued insecurity, profit-taking in July 2008 exerted downward pressure on Merck shares. In September, the financial crisis reached another peak with the collapse of Lehman Brothers and sent the entire stock market into a tailspin. Despite our comparatively crisis-resistant business model, the Merck share price declined and reached its annual low of € 57.67 on November 21 but recovered slightly toward year-end.
back
