The long-time public relations specialist is leaving April 13 to do her own thing. After spending 15 years with the big drugmaker, during which time she survived the company’s decline and the recent Vioxx scandal, Skidmore is leaving to open her own PR shop.

“I’ve wanted to do this for awhile. It’s a chance to do something different, although I’ll miss the communications team at Merck. They’ve been great to work with,” says Skidmore, who spent several years in the Langley-like headquarters in Whitehouse Station, before most recently handling PR for Merck’s research apparatus in West Point, Pa.

A plain-spoken communicator, Skidmore developed a reputation among journalists for being responsive and cooperative. As one can tell, Pharmalot found Skidmore to be dependable, a rare commodity in this spin-infested world.

Skidmore, 50, will be working out of her Pennsylvania home, which she shares with her husband, Emillio Emini, who heads vaccine research and development at Wyeth.

[tags]Emillio Emini, Janet Skidmore, Merck[/tags]