Probably the more difficult question is whether it will work meaning not only will this side business in weight reduction make any money, but will it (can it possibly) make enough to maneuver the needle in a colossus like Merck?

For the short term, the answer is: obviously not (presumably why Herper described it as beingnoise). A hot blockbuster drug may bring in vast lida old amounts of dollars a year (and price nearly that much to find out and develop, such as the resources allocated to failures); that sort of revenue is difficult to come by.

However the real value to Merck is most likely what its teaching the business about alternative business models, especially those related to healthcare services rather than products.

Moreover, while selling pricey drugs might seem like a bad place to be (at least long-term) in our evolving healthcare ecosystem, selling customer-focused health services perhaps associated with documented improvements in health seems like a great location to set up shop; the career is forward-thinking and sensible.

My guess is that if Merck does this right (and, because the MedCity News article highlights, they arent the only ones besides Medtronic, J&J, particularly, leptin green coffee seems to be looking quite seriously at new healthcare business opportunities), they may progressively develop a stable of healthcare firms that over time take into account a growing amount of revenue, to the point where collectively, it becomes material.

Include an external shock or two, and also the need to evolve quickly could occur a lot sooner.

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