Within weeks of Pfizer's announcement of a $68 million deal for Wyeth, there is news of another buyout deal on the pharma front - Merck & Co's $41.1 billion offer in stock-and-cash for buying Schering-Plough Corp.

The Monday-announced proposed pact will result in the creation of world's second-largest prescription drugmaker - uniting the asthma drug Singulair manufacturer with allergy medicine Nasonex manufacturer.

With Merck and Schering already partnering the manufacture of commonly-used cholesterol fighters - Vytorin and Zetia - Merck Chairman and CEO Richard Clark, referred to the Merck-Schering deal as "a uniquely complementary match."

Clark added that the joint Merck-Schering company, with a robust and expansive product portfolio, will be "well-positioned for sustainable growth through scientific innovation."

Merck and Schering's combined 2008 revenue figures of $47 billion will surely give the companies an enviable ability to compete in a drug industry, which is passing through a phase of slumping sales, hard-hitting generic competition and severe pricing pressures.

The two companies, like most of their rivals, are presently cutting operational costs and implementing restructuring plans, thereby laying-off thousands of employees. However, the deal between the two will bring "no immediate changes" to staffing levels, according to Merck spokeswoman Amy Rose, who also added there will be "an approximate 15 percent reduction in the combined company's headcount," implying nearly 16,000 job cuts.