By Jared S. Hopkins

Merck & Co. R & D chief Roger Perlmutter, who turned around the drugmaker's labs by embracing cancer immunotherapy, will retire at the end of the year, the company said.

Dr. Perlmutter, 68, was credited with reviving the company's labs -- and overall prospects -- by seizing on the potential of a new kind of cancer treatment known as immunotherapy. The efforts led to the development of the drug Keytruda, now one of Merck's top sellers.

Keytruda, which treats lung and other cancers, notched more than $11 billion in world-wide sales last year.

Dr. Perlmutter will be succeeded by Dean Li, Merck's senior vice president of discovery sciences and translational medicine, who joined the company in 2017 after holding positions in medical research at the University of Utah.

Dr. Li, 58, also helped launch biotech companies based upon his laboratory's research, according to Merck.

After overseeing R & D at Amgen Inc., Dr. Perlmutter took the helm of Merck's labs in 2013 with the mission of turning around the company's research after several setbacks. He proceeded to eliminate layers of management and many research programs, before realizing the potential of cancer immunotherapy and increasing its development.

"I never lost focus of the fundamental mission of our organization, which is to translate breakthrough research into medicines that changed the world," Dr. Perlmutter said in an interview.

Dr. Perlmutter will remain as a nonexecutive director through June 30, 2021, according to the company.

Dr. Perlmutter earlier worked at Merck for several years as a senior vice president. Before that he was a professor in the departments of immunology, biochemistry and medicine at the University of Washington.

Dr. Perlmutter said in the interview that ever since Dr. Li, 58, arrived at Merck, there was talk about whether he could lead Merck's R & D. He said Dr. Li helped lead the launch of Merck's early research laboratories in South San Francisco, Cambridge, Mass., and London.

"He has guided the research efforts for quite some time," Dr. Perlmutter said.

Write to Jared S. Hopkins at jared.hopkins@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 02, 2020 09:16 ET (13:16 GMT)

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