In 2009, Europe was again the division’s strongest region in terms of sales, which declined by 3.6% to € 2,557 million, mainly as a result of the market withdrawal of the psoriasis drug Raptiva®. With sales of € 533 million, France was our biggest market in Europe. Sales there fell by 15%, due in part to generic competition faced by our CardioMetabolic Care products. Despite a restrictive health care policy, sales in Germany grew by 2.7% to € 497 million. In Italy and Spain, sales declined by 3.1% and 2.4%, respectively, to € 287 million and € 288 million, putting them nearly on par with each other. With growth rates of 15% and 9.9%, respectively, Poland and Russia were two examples of smaller markets that experienced strong growth.
Merck Serono | Sales by region
In North America, we expanded our market position, with a 21% increase in sales to € 947 million, primarily attributable to the strong growth of Rebif®. Sales in Latin America rose by 21% to € 711 million. Our largest market in this region, Brazil, posted sales growth of 7.1% to € 210 million. Argentina and Colombia performed well, with sales growth of 21% and 36%, respectively, while sales in Mexico declined by 2.9% because of strong currency effects.
In Asia, Africa and Australasia, sales increased sharply by 24%, rising to € 779 million. Thanks to the success of Erbitux®, we more than quadrupled our sales in Japan to € 127 million. At € 56 million, India achieved growth of 7.1%, while China increased sales by 7.8% to € 123 million. We intend to strengthen our presence in this important market. Over the next four years, we plan to invest € 150 million in the establishment of a global center for research and development in Beijing.
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