Merck Serono Wins Two Red Dot Design Awards 2015 for High Quality Design of Fertility Pens

PR60851

DARMSTADT, Germany, June 11/PRN=KYODO JBN/ --

                        Not intended for UK or US based media

    - Out of nearly 5,000 entries, Merck Serono won acclaim in the 60th

      anniversary of the Red Dot Award: Product Design 2015

    - Award recognizes Merck Serono's commitment to developing innovative drug

      delivery devices with high convenience and reliability

    Merck Serono, the biopharmaceutical business of Merck, today announced that

the product design of its fertility pens won over the 38-member jury of the Red

Dot Award: Product Design 2015. The company was honored with a total of two

awards for its Merck Serono Fertility Family of Pens(TM) in this year's

competition. The pens are used in fertility treatment to inject hormones for

follicle stimulation, helping women and couples realize their dream of having a

baby.

    (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150526/747165-b )

    (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150611/748651-a )

    (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150611/748651-b )

    "Winning two Red Dot Awards for our Family of Pens is a remarkable

achievement for Merck Serono which acknowledges our dedication and attention to

detail in designing these innovative drug delivery devices to meet the needs of

patients", said Meeta Gulyani, Head of Global Strategy and Franchises at Merck

Serono. "Bringing to life our motto 'As One for Patients', developing these

products was a collaborative process involving, Merck Serono's business as well

as medical device experts and our manufacturing partner the company Haselmeier.

Receiving the Red Dot Awards shows that, by working together closely, we

succeeded in developing devices with a unique design and high user friendliness

that inspire confidence and convey reliability."

    Merck Serono's Family of Pens is the first pre-filled, ready-to-use set of

injection devices for fertility treatment. It is based on healthcare

professionals' and patients' feedback to provide a common injection platform

for Merck Serono's gonadotropins. One of these essential hormones to treat

infertility is Merck Serono's Gonal-f(R) (follitropin alfa), a recombinant

human follicle-stimulating hormone (r-hFSH) which is prescribed to supplement

or replace naturally occurring FSH in women undergoing assisted reproductive

technology (ART). In 2011, Merck Serono launched Gonal-f as a pre-filled pen for

self-administration which has since been introduced in 74 countries. Other

models support the injection of Ovidrel(R).

    With their clear and functional product design language, the pens ranked

first amongst tough competition for a Red Dot Award, which is celebrating its

60th anniversary. The Award committee received a total of 4,928 entries from 56

countries this year. Throughout the world and across different industries, Red

Dot is seen as the award for high design quality.

    The Red Dot Awards will be presented at a gala event in Essen (Germany) on

29 June 2015. The winning products are then presented for four weeks in the

special exhibition "Design on Stage" before being included in the museum's

permanent exhibition. With roughly 2,000 exhibits over 4,000 square meters, the

Red Dot Design Museum presents the world's largest exhibition of contemporary

design.

    About the Red Dot Award

    In order to appraise the diversity in the field of design in a professional

manner, the Red Dot Design Award breaks down into the three disciplines of Red

Dot Award: Product Design, Red Dot Award: Communication Design and Red Dot

Award: Design Concept.

    The Red Dot Award was created by Design Zentrum Nordrhein Westfalen and

with around 17,000 entries each year is one of the best-respected design

competitions in the world. In 2015, it is celebrating its 60th anniversary: It

was in 1955 that a jury convened for the first time to assess the best designs

of the day. The sought-after award, the "Red Dot", is the revered international

seal of outstanding design quality.

    Award-winning designers, manufacturers and agencies use the Red Dot winner

label and receive numerous other winners' privileges, such as the presentation

of the award-winning product on Red Dot Online, in the Red Dot Design Yearbook,

the Red Dot App and on Red Dot 21. Additionally, the winning products are

communicated in the international PR activities of Red Dot and exhibited in the

Red Dot Design Museum Essen for a whole year.

    More information is available at http://www.red-dot.org/press.

    About Merck Serono

    Merck Serono is the biopharmaceutical business of Merck. 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 neurology, oncology, immuno-oncology and immunology. For

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

    All Merck Press Releases are distributed by e-mail at the same time they

become available on the Merck Website. Please go to

http://www.merckgroup.com/subscribe to register online, change your selection

or discontinue this service.

    Merck is a leading company for innovative and top-quality high-tech

products in healthcare, life science and performance materials. The company has

six businesses - Merck Serono, Consumer Health, Allergopharma, Biosimilars,

Merck Millipore and Performance Materials - and generated sales of around EUR

11.3 billion in 2014. Around 39,000 Merck employees work in 66 countries to

improve the quality of life for patients, to foster the success of customers

and to help meet global challenges. Merck is the world's oldest pharmaceutical

and chemical company - since 1668, the company has stood for innovation,

business success and responsible entrepreneurship. Holding an approximately 70%

interest, the founding family remains the majority owner of the company to this

day. Merck,

Darmstadt, Germany, holds the global rights to the Merck name and brand. The

only exceptions are Canada and the United States, where the company operates as

EMD Serono, EMD Millipore and EMD Performance Materials.

    SOURCE: Merck Serono