The German Merck KGaA, with their subsidiary Merck Marker (Pvt) Ltd, having head office in Karachi and factory in Quetta, in response to numerous media inquiries clarified that it has no connection with Merck & Co, New Jersey, USA.
The media questions concern Merck & Co's product liability lawsuits regarding Vioxx(r), said a statement here on Monday.
The historic roots of both companies are the same and began 337 years ago in Darmstadt, Germany. As the business grew into a pharmaceutical company, a Merck branch was founded in New York in 1891. This branch was confiscated by the US government during World War I and in 1917 became the independent company Merck & Co.
The two companies are no longer associated with each other but still share the same name. The German Merck KGaA owns world-wide rights to the name except in the USA and Canada, where it uses EMD as its name whereas the American Merck & Co USA, a separate company, uses this name in North America only and uses MSD in the rest of the world.
German Merck KGaA is a global pharmaceutical and chemical company with subsidiary companies operating all over the world under its umbrella. The former US subsidiary, Merck & Co, has been completely independent of the Merck Group since 1917. In Pakistan, the German Merck KGaA holds 75 percent interest and the Marker family 25 percent.-PR