MERCK vende ORGANON pero nadie compra...

By ANNA MARIJ VAN DER MEULEN

AMSTERDAM—U.S.-based Merck & Co. failed to find a buyer for its MSD-Organon research and development laboratories in the Netherlands, MSD-Organon said Wednesday, resurrecting prospects the U.S. pharmaceuticals giant will shut down its Dutch unit.

"Since September last year, we have spoken to a number of external parties to acquire the Dutch Organon operations but Merck concluded they could not support a possible transaction," Organon said in a statement. Merck, based in Whitehouse Station, N.J., said in July that it would close its research and development sites in the Netherlands as part of a major global revamp. But strong resistance by the works council and Organon's employees prompted Merck last September to look into alternative solutions. Shuttering the operations would result in cutting 2,000 of the 4,500 jobs at Organon's research and development sites.

Organon said Wednesday that it is still looking at other possibilities that would maintain a number of R&D jobs.

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Media reports have suggested South Africa's Aspen Pharmacare Holdings Ltd. was among the parties interested in Merck's Dutch Organon division. Aspen declined to comment on the reports.

Merck became the owner of the Dutch R&D hubs after its takeover of Schering-Plough, which in turn bought the business from Akzo Nobel NV in 2007.

The Dutch Organon business develops medication in the woman's health area such as a vaccination against cancer of the uterus. The Dutch business was among the first pharmaceutical concerns to start large-scale production of the birth-control pill in the 1960s. (Ver)