NEW YORK (AP) - Merck & Co. says its board of directors named Kenneth C. Frazier chief executive officer to succeed retiring Richard T. Clark.
Frazier is currently Merck's president and a member of the board of directors. Clark has been CEO since 2005 and will remain as chairman of the board. His retirement was expected in 2011, and the changes are effective Jan. 1.
The management change comes a year after Whitehouse Station, N.J.-based Merck bought Schering-Plough Corp. for $41 billion.