Merck Unveils R&D Strategy Shift

Merck & Co. is beginning to pull back the curtain on its R&D strategy under Roger Perlmutter, who left Amgen last year to head Merck’s research operations. The drug company will lessen its traditional focus on in-house research and increasingly look for discoveries made outside its own labs. As such, Merck will establish innovation hubs in Boston, the San Francisco Bay Area, London, and Shanghai as a means of accessing cutting-edge science from academic experts and biotech firms. The news of Merck’s shift was first reported in the Wall Street Journal; Merck confirmed the story’s details but declined to offer further comment.