As President of Biopharma Activities for Merck in France, Pierre-Henry Longeray reveals how France is the third ranked affiliate after the US and Germany for the Group; how the French culture of innovation is one of the main drivers of the business; and how Merck is shifting from a pharmaceutical and chemical company to a science and technology group. Could you please start by introducing yourself and giving our readers an idea of Merck’s position in the pharmaceutical value chain in France? [Featured_in] I am a pharmacist by background, and I started working in the pharmaceutical sector in 1986, in Lyon, when I joined Lipha which was then acquired by Merck in 1991. This was my first experience of integration. In 1990, I became country manager of Lipha in Belgium, before moving back to France, working in different sales and marketing roles. I was for example in charge of international marketing for one of our famous brands, Glucophage, an anti-diabetic product. We launched the product in the US with BMS in 1995. Then I was asked to take over a company called Theramex, based in Monaco. We sold this company in 2009 but I moved back to Lyon in 2007 when we acquired Serono and I was in charge of the integration between Merck and Serono for the French market. Today, my role as President of Biopharma Activities for Merck in France implies I am in charge of the Biopharma operations of the company in the country. In terms of manufacturing, I have no operational responsibility as this is managed globally, but I do have a legal responsibility meaning I am responsible for the people working in our French plants. Merck is one of the biggest international companies in France with 12 sites, most of the production being exported. Lyon is the headquarters of our biopharma activities. Our chemical plant and distribution center is in Meyzieu close to Lyon and, due to our recent acquisition of a life science company Sigma-Aldrich, we now have another plant in the region. We have 250 people working here in Lyon, 200 in Meyzieu, and 200 in Saint-Quentin Fallavier. Overall in France we have 3,200 employees. 2015-16 was an interesting year for Merck with a new global CEO, new directives in terms of group offerings, a focus on profitability, growth of existing products, a hastening of R&D, and the development of three new divisions: healthcare, life science, and performance materials. How does that plug into your activities in France?

We are no longer positioning ourselves as a pharmaceuticals and chemicals company, but as a science and technology company.