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24 | Merck Annual Report 2008
Responsibility
Headcount increases further
As of December 31, 2008, 32,800 people worked for Merck, 1,832 more than a year
ago. Merck was represented in 59 countries by 178 companies. We manufacture our
products at 54 sites in 25 countries. The increase in the number of employees related
to all businesses. In Germany, the size of the workforce increased by 159 employees.
However, in August around 130 sales representatives from Merck Pharma GmbH
transferred to the German subsidiary of the Japanese pharmaceutical company Daiichi
Sankyo. Owing to the changed framework conditions for off-patent ethical drugs, we
decided to continue this business without our own sales force activities. The members
of the Primary Care sales force in Turkey and Ireland also transferred to Daiichi Sankyo.
Our workforce in Switzerland grew by 278 employees as a result of the expanded
pharmaceutical business. The headcount increased by 316 in Latin America, by 123 in
North America and by 1,179 in Asia. Special mention should be made of China, where
the workforce grew by 553 employees. The expansion of the Merck Serono business
played a significant role here. In several countries, we combined the Merck and Serono
companies and eliminated positions. This related above all to the United Kingdom,
where the headcount declined by 140. In Spain, we sold biManán®, a local brand of diet
products, and also closed one research site. The number of employees declined by 83.
In terms of function, 22% of our employees work in production, 35% in marketing
and sales, 14% in research and development, and 6.5% in logistics. The remaining
employees work in areas such as Engineering, Environment, IT, Finance and Human
Resources.
Access to medicines
In 2007, we joined forces with the World Health Organization (WHO) to combat the
tropical disease schistosomiasis – a major threat to children in Africa. In 2008, the
project started in eight countries: A total of 14 million tablets of Cesol® 600 containing
the active ingredient praziquantel will be distributed in Madagascar, Benin, Nigeria,
Cameroon, Senegal, Yemen, the Central African Republic and Angola. In Africa, more
than 200 million people are infected. Schistosomiasis is responsible for around 200,000
deaths each year. Over a ten-year period, Merck will provide 200 million tablets to treat
around 27 million school children.
19,106
58%
4,370
13%
2,157
7%
7,167
22%
Number of employees as of December 31, 2008
Asia, Africa,
Australasia
North America
Latin America
Europe
www.merck.de/responsibility