Last checked at 
By Ludwig Burger and Patricia Weiss
DARMSTADT, Germany, Feb 23 (Reuters) - German drugs andchemicals group Merck KGaA has seen solid growth atits consumer healthcare business last year, underpinning thefamily-owned company's commitment to holding on to the business.
The division, a relatively small player in the globalover-the-counter (OTC) drugs market with brands such asNeurobion and Seven Seas vitamins, grew "nicely" in 2015,divisional head Uta Kemmerich-Keil told Reuters, declining toprovide numbers.
"We are winning market share in the relevant markets," sheadded. The company is due to publish 2015 results on March 8.
The fragmented over-the-counter (OTC) drugs and consumerhealth industry has seen a phase of rapid consolidation overrecent years.
It was capped by an asset swap between Sanofi andBoehringer Ingelheim that will vault the French drugmaker intothe number one spot in the industry with pro-forma 2015 sales ofaround 5.1 billion euros ($5.6 billion).
Previously, Bayer bought the consumer healthbusiness of U.S. drugmaker Merck & Co while Novartis and GlaxoSmithKline transferred theirbusinesses into a joint venture in deals worth billions.
That dwarfs Merck KGaA's consumer health operations, whichhad 766 million euros in 2014 sales and saw growth of 11.3percent in the first nine months of 2015, when adjusted forcurrency swings.
While other drugmakers such as Merck & Co or BoehringerIngelheim have recently hived off larger consumer health unitsto focus on other core businesses, the family behind Germany'sMerck KGaA has no intention of selling, Kemmerich-Keil said.
"We are an integral part of Merck and that is for goodreason. We are contributing nicely to growth," she added.
The division remained on track to post 1 billion euros inannual sales in four to five years' time, helped by a focus onpromising segments such as prenatal vitamins or cold remedies.
Smaller acquisitions, including the purchase of rights totechnology such as new probiotic bacteria, would complement theunit's organic growth, she added.
($1 = 0.9082 euros) (Editing by Maria Sheahan)
