Post-Rebif, Merck KGaA Keeps Faith With MS Therapies

CEO Stefan Oschmann is sticking to his previous forecast of annual peak sales of €500-700m for Mavenclad, excluding the US, and Merck has high hopes for another MS treatment, the BTK inhibitor evobrutinib, following promising Phase IIb data.

Nerve cells
MS to remain a core area for Merck KGaA • Source: Shutterstock

As it faces up to the sales decline of former flagship drug Rebif (interferon beta-1a), Merck KGAA is banking on new multiple sclerosis therapies to help it come through 2018 which, according to CEO Stefan Oschmann, will be a year of transition.

Speaking at the German group's annual press conference in Darmstadt on March 8, he described 2017 as "a year of...

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