The 52-year-old Harvard Law School grad, who joined the drugmaker in 1992 and has steered the tumultuous Vioxx litigation, next week replaces the recently departed Peter Loescher. His official title will be executive vice president and president, global human health.

The move isn’t a complete surprise to Merck watchers. For one, Merck ceo Dick Clark recently was named chairman and the board committee that was formed to shepherd his early going since his 2005 promotion to the top spot was dismantled, as two of those board members retired this past spring. With the training wheels off, Clark is now freer to form his own team.

And Clark came to trust Frazier implicity these past two years, which have been filled with the ups and downs of each Vioxx verdict. Moreover, Frazier’s standing was high enough that, before the board tapped Clark, he was among the small circle of Merck execs considered as a replacement for the embattled Ray Gilmartin.

“In Ken, we are fortunate to have an exceptional leader who knows the Company, its business and the industry intimately and who has a demonstrated ability to drive the transformation necessary to achieve our long-term objectives,” Clark intones in the de rigeur statement.

By ascending to the No. 2 spot, Frazier, who was named Merck’s general counsel in 1999 and was promoted to executive vice president last year, will now become the highest-ranking African-American in the pharmaceutical industry. And he ascends the ladder as Merck is perceived by Wall Street to be successfully implementing a turnaround, despite the Gardasil controversy.

Succeeding Frazier as general counsel is Bruce Kuhlik (to the right), who is also being promoted to senior vp. He joined Merck in 2005 as vp and associate general counsel, primarily responsible for Vioxx litigation. Prior to that, he was sr vp and general counsel for Phrma, and was also a partner at Covington & Burling in Washington, DC.