Launch of TQM Insight, an IT Service Company Formed Through Merck Serono's Entrepreneur Partnership Program

GENEVA, January 15, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

TQM Insight will offer governance services and products with a focus on Information Technology (IT) for organizations in regulated industries

Merck Serono, a division of Merck, Darmstadt, Germany, today announces the formation of TQM Insight Sàrl., the fourth company stemming from Merck Serono's Entrepreneur Partnership Program (EPP). TQM Insight is a services company specializing in IT governance, a business critical need for companies operating in regulated industries such as the pharmaceutical, chemical and banking sectors. Merck Serono is committing more than €1.8 million in contracts over the next eighteen months and will become TQM Insight's first client.

"The formation of TQM Insight allows our former employees to capitalize on their experience at Merck Serono, to start a unique and promising business in IT governance", said Frédéric Wohlwend, Group Chief Information Officer of Merck. "We strongly believe that TQM Insight's offering will meet the specific needs of the many companies in the regulated industries based in the Lake Geneva area, and beyond. In addition to our financial commitment over the next eighteen months, TQM Insight will be considered by Merck Serono as a preferred business partner for future projects," he added.

Operational as of January 2013, TQM Insight will initially employ six people from the information service governance unit to be led by Gary Price, formerly the Corporate Director of IT Governance at Merck Serono. Within Merck and Merck Serono, this team has successfully delivered IT Governance programs including global certification in ISO 9001 (Quality Management), 27001 (Information Security) and 20000 (Service Management) standards, implementation of best-in-class processes for Global IT, on-going regulatory compliance and audit, performance reporting, portfolio and project management, service management, information security & risk management (including data privacy) and skills development.

"Today, IT management is continually challenged to deliver value on all investment made into the Information Technology space as well as allaying concerns around risk, availability, security and continuity," said Gary Price, owner of TQM Insight. "Through an effective IT Governance framework, IT Management can meet this challenge by covering the five main areas: Strategic Alignment, Value Delivery, Risk Management, Resource Management and Performance Measurement. TQM Insight is very well placed to address these areas from a strategic perspective through to implementation and operation of the governance system."

TQM Insight was set up through Merck Serono's EPP, an initiative to help employees to start a business focused on activities or compounds from Merck Serono. Since its initiation in May 2012, the EPP has allowed the creation of four spin-off and services companies: Prexton Therapeutics, Quartz Bio, Asceneuron and TQM Insight. Further employee projects are currently being evaluated and will be announced in the course of 2013.

About Merck Serono

Merck Serono is the biopharmaceutical division of Merck KGaA. With headquarters in Darmstadt, Germany, Merck Serono offers leading brands in 150 countries to help patients with cancer, multiple sclerosis, infertility, endocrine and metabolic disorders as well as cardiovascular diseases. In the United States and Canada, EMD Serono operates as a separately incorporated subsidiary of Merck Serono.

Merck Serono discovers, develops, manufactures and markets prescription medicines of both chemical and biological origin in specialist indications. We have an enduring commitment to deliver novel therapies in our core focus areas of neurodegenerative diseases, oncology and rheumatology.

About Merck

Merck is a global pharmaceutical and chemical company with total revenues of €10.3 billion in 2011, a history that began in 1668, and a future shaped by approx. 40,000 employees in 67 countries. Its success is characterized by innovations from entrepreneurial employees. Merck's operating activities come under the umbrella of Merck KGaA, in which the Merck family holds an approximately 70% interest and free shareholders own the remaining approximately 30%. In 1917 the U.S. subsidiary Merck & Co. was expropriated and has been an independent company ever since.

For more information, please visit http://www.merckserono.com or http://www.merckgroup.com