Merck & Co., Inc. to Cut Up to 13,000 Jobs, Q2 Profit Rises; Discontinues Ph3 Migraine Program

Drugmaker Merck & Co.'s second-quarter profit nearly tripled from a year ago, when about $2 billion in charges hurt results. Merck also said Friday that it will cut up to 11,830 jobs. The maker of asthma and allergy drug Singulair and Type 2 diabetes pill Januvia said Friday that it's starting another restructuring progam, which will eliminate 12 percent to 13 percent of jobs by 2015. That would amount to 10,920 to 11,830 of Merck's current 91,000 positions. The company has been under a restructuring program since it bought Schering-Plough Corp. in November 2009 and started eliminating nearly 20,000 positions. Merck said Friday it's on track to achieve that program's goal — $3.5 billion in annual cost savings — by the end of 2012.