Merck chief defines the perfect biotech buyout

Just before Biogen Idec announced it was out of the merger business, for the present, Merck's CEO was telling the Wall Street Journal that it had no interest in buying the biotech company. What it would like to buy, said CEO Richard Clark (photo), is a biotech company with about $2 billion to $5 billion in sales and a pipeline in sync with Merck's research interests. Hmm. And by the way, he added, Merck has no beef with the FDA. Even as others see the agency tightening up after the Vioxx debacle, Merck has counted seven approvals in the past two years. "It's difficult to say that the FDA has changed their approach."

- check out the report from the Wall Street Journal

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