Nearly two years after being tapped to succeed the embattled Ray Gilmartin as ceo, the Merck board elevated Clark to the chairmanship as well.

This isn’t surprising. Under Clark’s stewardship, Merck has succeeded in undertaking a large reorganization, getting a few key product approvals - particularly the Gardasil vaccine - and convinced Wall Street that the Vioxx litigation is manageable. In fact, the stock is about $5 above where it was when Vioxx was withdrawn in September 2004.

At the time Clark was promoted, the Merck board made a point of creating a special committee to oversee Clark, having been criticized for allowing the drugmaker to drift under Gilmartin’s stewardship. The move was led by board member Larry Bossidy, who’s retiring. Another key board member, Bill Bowen, is retiring as well.

[tags]Dick Clark, Larry Bossidy, Merck[/tags]