Merck KGaA ups earnings outlook on strong biotech labs demand

By Ludwig Burger FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German drugs and chemicals maker Merck KGaA has raised its full-year core earnings forecast in response to strong demand for its lab supplies and on the back of its $17 billion Sigma-Aldrich purchase. The Sigma-Aldrich deal, which got regulatory approval this week, will make Merck's Life Science business the world's second-largest supplier of biotech labs and drug companies after Thermo Fisher. As a supplier of substances and devices to the drug industry, M