There was something like awe in Merck Chief Executive Officer Richard Clark’s tone as he talked about the completion of his company’s mega merger with Schering-Plough.
The merger, which combined two of the state’s most venerable drugmakers, officially propelled Clark to the helm of the second-largest pharmaceutical company in the world this morning.
"It was just incredible bringing these two companies together,’’ Clark said during a telephone interview. "I think this merger will be unlike any others in the industry based on that synergy and communality of our cultures.’’
In March, Merck stunned the pharmaceutical industry when it announced plans to buy Schering-Plough for $41.1 billion. The deal came on the heels of another mega-merger: Pfizer’s plan to buy Madison-based Wyeth for $68 billion. Pfizer completed its acquisition of Wyeth last month.
With Schering-Plough incorporated into its folds, Merck has 106,000 employees — roughly 14,000 of them are in New Jersey — in more than 140 countries. The company has 15 drugs in late-stage development — it was Schering-Plough’s rich pipeline that drove Merck’s ambitions from the start.
Clark said the company intends to keep the research facilities in Rahway and Kenilworth. "They are very important research sites,’’ Clark said of the two locations. "There is very specific research work that we need to keep in place."
The Whitehouse Station corporate campus will continue serving as the company’s global headquarters.
Clark said early on he set a strategy to meld the best of the two companies together.
"I hand-picked the integration leaders to make sure they believed in my objectives,’’ he said. "I rolled up my sleeves every day and worked with my leadership team to ensure that we actually kept to the standards.’’