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Bayer closes acquisition of Merck Consumer Care for $14.2bn

German pharmaceutical firm Bayer has completed the acquisition of Merck Consumer Care (MCC) business from US-based Merck for $14.2bn.

As part of the acquisition, Bayer now owns Merck’s existing over-the-counter (OTC) business, including the global trademark and prescription rights for Claritin and Afrin.

Bayer has held back certain contingent amounts which will be payable upon the manufacturing site transfer in Canada and regulatory approvals in Mexico and Korea.

The newly acquired consumer care business will be headed by Bayer HealthCare member of the Executive Committee and responsible for the Consumer Care division Erica Mann.

The acquired consumer care business includes products such as Claritin (allergy), Coppertone (sun care), MiraLAX (gastrointestinals), Afrin (cold) and in North and Latin America Dr. Scholl’s (foot care).

Merck chairman and chief executive officer Kenneth Frazier said, "The proceeds from this sale, combined with our strong operating cash flow, give us greater flexibility to invest in opportunities that:augment the company’s pipeline and product portfolio, such as the purchase of Idenix to strengthen our hepatitis C portfolio, while at the same time continuing to return capital to shareholders."

Simultaneously, Merck has also entered into clinical development collaboration with Bayer to market and develop its portfolio of soluble guanylate cyclase (sGC) modulators including Adempas (riociguat) and vericiguat.

Under the sGC collaboration, Merck will make payments of up to $2.1bn to Bayer including an up-front payment of $1bn as well as revenue-based milestone payments of $ 1.1bn for future combined sales of certain jointly developed substances.