(Yicai) May 30 -- Merck will replace the outgoing head of its China operations with Kyle Tattle, president of the US drugmaker’s Japanese division, following a steep decline in first-quarter revenue.

Tattle will take up the reins after Anna Van Acker, global senior vice president, returns to Europe at the end of her four-year tenure in China, Yicai learned from the New Jersey-based company, known internationally as Merck Sharp & Dohme.

During his four-year term in Japan, Tattle helped take Merck’s market position from eighth to third place, according to MSD. A longtime MSD executive, he previously led the company’s oncology business across China, Japan, and the broader Asia-Pacific region.

During Van Acker’s initial years, MSD achieved strong growth and in 2023 overtook AstraZeneca to become the top-selling multinational drug firm in China, with revenue of USD6.7 billion. But over the past two years, its flagship product -- a human papillomavirus vaccine -- has faced growing competition from local producers, pushing its Chinese revenues sharply lower.

In the first quarter of this year, MSD’s revenue in China plunged 62 percent from a year earlier to USD668 million, representing less than 5 percent of its global total, according to the firm’s latest earnings report. Last year, its China revenue fell 20 percent to USD5.4 billion, accounting for 9 percent of Merck’s global total -- down from nearly 13 percent the previous year.

Looking ahead, MSD faces another potential challenge. Its core patents for Keytruda, the firm’s blockbuster treatment for melanoma, lung cancer, and cervical cancer, will expire in 2028. This could further intensify competition from similar products in China, according to industry insiders.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Emmi Laine