Merck-Simcere China Drug JV Breaking Apart

Merck is pulling out of its highly visible China drug JV with Simcere Pharma. In 2011, the two companies announced that each company would contribute some of their own pharmaceutical assets to the JV, which would develop, make and market branded generic drugs. Merck owned a majority 51% stake in the JV, with Simcere claiming the rest. But now Simcere will be in charge of the JV, which is known as SMSD. At the moment, neither company has released details about the JV's future, saying only that changing circumstances forced the parties to rethink the JV's strategy. More deails.... Stock Symbol: (NYSE: MRK) Share this with colleagues: // //