Merck KGaA Names Three Division Heads, Combines Two Divisions

17-Feb-2004

Merck KGaA announced that Dr. Paul Breddels, 48, has been named Head of the Liquid Crystals division and Henryk (Hank) Klakurka, 53, was appointed Head of the generics division. Both promotions were effective January 1, 2004.

Merck also announced that, as a consequence of the anticipated divestment of VWR International, the divisions Analytics and Reagents and Life Science Products will be merged and renamed Life Science & Analytics, effective April 1. Walter Galinat, currently director of Analytics and Reagents, will be in charge of the newly formed division. Dr. Bernd Reckmann, who heads Life Science Products, has been named Director of the Merck Group's newly created Strategic Innovations Process.

Breddels replaces Dr. Juergen Gehlhaus, 62, who retired at the end of 2003 after 31 years with Merck, including nine years as Head of Liquid Crystals. Under Gehlhaus's leadership, annual sales of liquid crystals soared nearly six-fold to EUR 438 million and Merck's position as the world leader in this innovative field was firmly established.

Breddels, a native of Rotterdam, Holland, has a PhD in Experimental Physics from Utrecht University and Purdue University in Indiana, USA. In 1984, he joined Philips Research Laboratories in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, as a research scientist in its LCD group and came to Merck's Liquid Crystals division as a researcher in 1991. Since then, he has served as Head of LC in Korea, Head of LC in Japan and Country Manager of Merck operations in Taiwan. Korea, Japan and Taiwan are Merck's major markets for Liquid Crystals.

Klakurka will serve as Chief Executive Officer of Merck Generics Limited. For an interim period, he also will continue in his current capacity as CEO of Genpharm Inc., Merck Generics' subsidiary in Etobicoke, Ontario, Canada. He succeeds Mike Urwin, who left Merck at the end of 2003.

Klakurka has 24 years of experience in the international pharmaceutical industry. Before joining Merck in 2001, he held a number of progressively more-senior management positions with major international pharmaceutical companies including Johnson & Johnson, Schering-Plough and Astra. Most recently, he spent five years with the generic pharmaceutical business of Apotex Inc. in Canada. As CEO of Genpharm, Klakurka has been responsible for the development of Merck's generic businesses in North, Central and South America.

Klakurka studied Sciences at the University of Toronto, graduating in 1972. He was born in Germany and is a Canadian citizen.

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