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

          - 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