Derek Lowe, an Arkansan by birth, got his BA from Hendrix College and his PhD in organic chemistry from Duke before spending time in Germany on a Humboldt Fellowship on his post-doc. He's worked for several major pharmaceutical companies since 1989 on drug discovery projects against schizophrenia, Alzheimer's, diabetes, osteoporosis and other diseases.
To contact Derek email him directly: derekb.lowe@gmail.com
Twitter: Dereklowe
We're going to have to wait to find out of the whole Schering-Plough-buys-Merck charade is really going to allow revenue from J&J's Remicade to stay with the merged company. That merged company is known as "Merck", of course, and is run by Merck people from Merck's headquarters, so it's going to be interesting to see how that dispute goes. But although the first arguments have been made before an arbitration board, the decision doesn't look to be made until sometime next year. It sounds as if Merck is already trying to lower expectations, though. . .
I couldn't find a reference to the "lower expectations" but I'm pretty sure there's a finance/accounting principle that for SEC traded securities, you are required to lean towards the conservative side for financial projections. This may be an oversimplification, but when litigations are ongoing, firms are required to assume (on their books to varying degrees) that they will lose.
I hope they get burned on this one. Merck used to be a great company and they they pretty much suck. Following the Pfizer model which hasn't raised their stock and will not help Merck either.
1. ty on October 18, 2010 9:38 AM writes...
I couldn't find a reference to the "lower expectations" but I'm pretty sure there's a finance/accounting principle that for SEC traded securities, you are required to lean towards the conservative side for financial projections. This may be an oversimplification, but when litigations are ongoing, firms are required to assume (on their books to varying degrees) that they will lose.
Permalink to Comment2. Tony on October 18, 2010 4:41 PM writes...
I hope they get burned on this one. Merck used to be a great company and they they pretty much suck. Following the Pfizer model which hasn't raised their stock and will not help Merck either.
Permalink to Comment3. betalactam on October 18, 2010 7:05 PM writes...
I thought the new company was called Shmerck?
Permalink to Comment4. Tony on November 6, 2010 6:09 PM writes...
I heard that Derek interviewed at both Merck and J&J and thats how he got the scoop on this article. Anyone know if thats true ?
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