Corporate

Merz mourns the passing of Dr. Jochen Hückmann

Frankfurt am Main,June 17, 2015

On Monday, Dr. Jochen Hückmann, long time CEO and Chairman of the shareholder’s council of Merz Group, has passed away aged 72 after a long critical illness.

For more than 30 years, Dr. Hückmann successfully led the Frankfurt based pharmaceutical company. In 1981, he became the Group’s CEO, in 2006 he was appointed its Chairman. As part of a long planned handover to the next generation, he retired as the Group’s chairman in 2012 and assumed a position on the Supervisory Board. Four members of the fourth generation are since representing the shareholder families’ interest on a holding company level.

Until the very end, he was a highly dedicated member of the supervisory board, a trusted advisor to shareholders and management and above all, a vivid entrepreneur.

‘We will greatly miss Jochen’ says Michael Nick, 4th generation shareholder. ‘In great foresight, he prepared for passing on the baton for the governance of the company to the next generation early on. Family unity and strategic direction of the company were of greatest importance to him. With his humanity and gentleness, he was a role model for all of us. We will embrace and pass on these values. With the fourth generation of shareholders in place, we are now prepared to continue the success story of this family held company he has run for so many years.

During his tenure of more than forty years with the company, Dr. Hückmann has transformed Merz from a local German company with 100 Mio. D-Mark in revenue to a globally operating group with one billion EUR in sales. With persistence, he drove the company’s internationalization and specialization in neurology. His strong belief in the Alzheimer drug Memantine and his commitment to make this product a global success have paved the way for the companies` future, in particular the entry into Aesthetic medicine, based on acquisitions and own R&D.

‘We are devastated to learn of Dr Hückmann’s passing’ says Andreas Krebs, Chairman of the shareholder’s council since 2012. ‘With persistence, business acumen and foresight he has generated sustainable growth and global recognition for Merz’

‘We are losing an outstanding personality’, says Philip Burchard, CEO, Merz Pharma. ‘He was deeply convinced of science and research as the keys to success and supported innovation wherever he could.

Dr. Hückmann’s support for innovation and science went far beyond Merz. He was a member of the advisory board of Deutsche Bank, executive board member of the employer association for the federal State of Hessen as well as executive board member of the federation of German pharmaceutical companies. For almost thirty years, Dr. Hückmann and Merz Group have financially supported science at Frankfurt Goethe-University. Activities include a guest professorship, which was established in 1985 in recognition of his grandfather’s 100th anniversary as well as other philanthropic projects including a price for innovations in life sciences. In 2014, he was awarded with the honorary citizenship of Goethe University in Frankfurt.

About the Merz Pharma Group

Merz is a privately held pharmaceutical company based in Frankfurt, Germany, with subsidiaries in European countries, North America, Latin America and Asia Pacific. The company is active in research, development and distribution of innovative products in the areas of Aesthetic medicine and neurologically induced movement disorders.
In the Aesthetics segment Merz offers a balanced portfolio of products for minimally invasive treatments. With the dermal fillers Radiesse®, Belotero®, Glytone® and the Botulinum Neurotoxin Bocouture® as well as the Neocutis line of anti-aging, the company is a major player in the global Aesthetics market. Our offerings were supplemented by ultrasound-technology after the acquisition of Ulthera in mid 2014. For the treatment of neurologically induced movement disorders, Merz developed Xeomin®, the first botulinum toxin that is free of complex proteins.
With its tetesept® and Merz Spezial® brands, Merz Consumer Care is the leading provider of OTC medication, dietary supplements and skincare products in the German-speaking countries.
The Merz Pharma Group employs 2,738 people worldwide (previous year: 2,443). The Company generated revenue of EUR 994 million in fiscal year 2013/14 (previous year: EUR 980.2 million).