Founded in 1668, Merck is active in the areas of pharmaceuticals, laboratory business and specialty chemicals. Its activities in pharmaceuticals are focused on three areas: prescription ethical drugs, generics and self-medication products. The Merck group, which is headquartered in Germany, consists of over 200 companies in about 50 countries and employs almost 30,000 people worldwide.

Merck now owns 100 per cent of the former Serono SA with the successful completion on 6th July 2007 of a squeeze-out for the remaining shares in the Swiss biopharmaceutical company. Serono was combined with Merck's Ethicals division to form a new division, Merck Serono.

The key to Merck's success in recent years has been a strategy of “focused diversification”, resulting in a reduction in reportable divisions (down from eleven in 2001, to four by the end of 2007) in both of its Pharmaceuticals and Chemicals business segments. Since 2001, sales for both of these business segments have grown steadily, allowing the company to raise expenditure for both R&D and capital projects.

Within the Pharmaceuticals business segment, Merck has three divisions, Merck Serono, Generics (to be divested), and Consumer HealthCare, and thus has a foothold in all of the principal pharmaceutical markets worldwide. Although operating as separate entities, the synergy of resources and information between these divisions, most notably between Merck Serono and Generics, has been a core strategy for the company's success and in 2006, all three Pharmaceutical Divisions achieved double-digit growth.

Merck is continuing to focus on drugs for which there is high unmet need, specifically in the fields of CardioMetabolic Care, Oncology and, following the acquisition of Serono, Reproductive Health, Neurology and Autoimmune & Inflammatory. In 2006, Erbitux, Rebif and the Concor/bisoprolol products were top selling constituents of the Merck Serono product portfolio.