In November 2005, Serono announced that it had retained Goldman Sachs to explore selling the company.
Bernstein, said the Merck-Serono pairing seemed to make sense for investors in both companies.
Over the past year, Serono shares have done better than those of Amgen or Genentech.
Biogen's only drug, the multiple sclerosis fighter Avonex, is under heavy fire from Serono's Rebif.
Serono began a century ago in the distinctly old-economy business of extracting proteins from eggs.
Now Serono, like Amgen and Genentech, its bigger and better-known American brethren, is challenging this distinction.
Another distinction from the pharmaceutical giants: Serono concentrates on niche markets such as infertility and multiple sclerosis.
The Swedish study included funding from Biogen Idec, Merck Serono, and Umea University.
WSJ: Swedish Study Links Multiple Sclerosis to Vitamin D Levels
Teva makes Copaxone, a treatment for multiple sclerosis that competes with the MS drugs made by Biogen Idec and Serono.
His acquisition of Glaxo Wellcome's research labs in Geneva scientists and all in 1997 gave Serono state-of-the-art facilities at a fair price.
In March, Damstadt, Germany-based Merck set out on its own hostile bid for German neighbor Schering, bypassing Serono's "For Sale" sign.
"Together with Serono, Merck will be a world-class biotechnology company and a major player in the global pharmaceutical market, " he said.
His mission is to make investors see Serono not as an old-economy pharmaceuticals company, but rather as a global biotechnology dynamo.
That launched a bitter marketing war with Serono and Germany's Schering AG.
There's a new competing drug just out called Rebif from Swiss biotech outfit Serono, which has teamed up with pharmaceutical marketing powerhouse Pfizer.
Zymogenetics and Merck-Serono had stopped one study of a lupus treatment that was in some ways similar to Benlysta because of an infection risk.
Pfizer, trying to increase its already immense financial flexibility, will decide to buy Serono , the Swiss biotech firm that is currently up for sale.
One drug to watch as the deal goes through is Mylinax, an oral therapy for multiple sclerosis that Ivax is developing with Teva's rival, Serono.
Neither company is rolling over now: Before Tysabri was even approved, Serono chief Ernesto Bertarelli made the rounds to poke holes in the drug's hype.
Since taking over drug firm Serono (nyse: SRA - news - people )in 1996 from his father, Bertarelli has built it into Europe's biggest biotech.
Organon was only the latest of many middle-sized European drugs firms to succumb to a takeover: Switzerland's Serono and Germany's Schering, Altana and Schwarz were all sold in 2006.
Teva makes Copaxone, a treatment for multiple sclerosis that competes with the MS drugs made by Biogen Idec (nasdaq: BIIB - news - people ) and Serono.
Then Serono (nyse: SRA - news - people ), a Swiss biotech, did a study showing that its drug Rebif might work better than Avonex for some patients.
In March, Damstadt, Germany-based Merck set out on its own hostile bid for German neighbor Schering (nyse: SHR - news - people ), bypassing Serono's "For Sale" sign.
More recently, Serono (nyse: SRA - news - people ), a Swiss biotech, was able to get its drug, Rebif, onto the U.S. market despite Avonex's orphan status.
The types of companies he likes are similar to Serono when he first got involved: midsize firms that have good products but need management and money to expand beyond their borders.
For another, Merck has a strong sales force in Europe, whereas Serono has a sales presence in the U.S. The combination could be more efficient at pitching drugs to doctors and health bureaucracies.
The key difference this time is an unprecedented agreement between Bertarelli, chief executive of Serono S.A., the Geneva-based biotechnology company, and fellow billionaire Larry Ellison, whose Team Oracle is the so-called Challenger of Record.
One drug to watch as the deal goes through is Mylinax, an oral therapy for multiple sclerosis that Ivax is developing with Teva's rival, Serono (nyse: SRA - news - people ).
Perhaps because he would rather be out on the water than in a superfluous meeting, he has delegated more responsibility, and established clearer chains of command throughout Serono than did his father, who took a more paternalistic approach.
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