Merck KGaA Completes Acquisition of Kyowa Hakko's Mohan Generics
March 12, 2002 Darmstadt, Germany - Merck KGaA announced today that it has completed the acquisition of the generics drug company Mohan medicine Research Institute of Tokyo from Kyowa Hakko Kogyo Co. Ltd. This will allow Merck to expand in the world's second-largest pharmaceutical market. Financial details of the purchase, which was first announced in June 2001, were not disclosed.
Mohan and its 140 employees will be integrated into Merck's existing Japanese generics unit, Merck Hoei. The acquisition will double Hoei's annual sales to more than EUR 120 million and make it the No. 3 generics company in Japan. While generic drug sales in Japan currently account for about 7% of the total EUR 57 billion annual pharmaceutical sales in the country, Merck anticipates that market share will grow substantially in the medium term.
Merck entered the Japanese generic-drug market in 1998 with the purchase of the Hoei business from Astra Japan. The purchase of Mohan will expand Merck Hoei's product range, sales staff, and research-and- development activities.
"This purchase will greatly expand our sales, marketing, R&D and product range in Japan, one of the world's key pharmaceutical markets," said Mike Urwin, CEO of the Merck Generics Group.
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