E Merck Moves Into French Generics Business

German drugmaker E Merck of Darmstadt is to set up a generics company from its French subsidiaries, Lipha and Merck-Clevenot, and will launch about a dozen products on the French market at the start of 1996.

Jean-Noel Treilles, Lipha's president, has said that several marketing approvals have already been received and it is hoping to launch at least 10 new generics next year. The products would not be sold under "fantasy brand names," he said, but as genuine generics under the international scientific name for the molecule.

The company already has considerable experience in generics marketing, according to Mr Treilles, through its US company Dey, the sales of which rose 23% in 1994 to 620 million French francs ($124.0 million). Merck also became one of the world's largest generics producers last year after acquiring Amerpharm of the Netherlands.