Merck KGaA names new heads of lab equipment, OTC drugs units

Diversified healthcare and chemicals group Merck KGaA said the head of its Consumer Health unit, Udit Batra, would become chief executive of its much larger laboratory and biotech equipment unit Merck Millipore. Batra will succeed Robert Yates, who has decided to leave the German company to take on a new job outside of Merck, it said on Tuesday. Uta Kemmerich-Keil, who currently heads Merck’s allergy treatment unit Allergopharma, will succeed Batra to lead the Consumer Health unit, which makes non-prescription or over-the-counter (OTC) drugs and which owns the seven seas brand.