MSD Publishes 2018/2019 Corporate Responsibility Report

October 9, 2019 - MSD (tradename of Merck & Co. Inc., Kenilworth, N.J., USA (NYSE: MRK)) has issued its 2018/2019 Corporate Responsibility Report. The report highlights the company’s performance and progress in its four corporate responsibility priority areas of Access to Health, Employees, Environmental Sustainability, and Ethics & Values. 

"Operating responsibly is at the heart of MSD’s ability to deliver sustainable impact and long-term value for the business and society,” said Kenneth C. Frazier, MSD chairman and chief executive officer.

The report reflects the company’s belief that serving social good and achieving business success are deeply interdependent. MSD is tackling some of society’s biggest health challenges and joining forces with the global community to help realize the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

This year, the company has published a separate environmental, social and governance (ESG) report that details progress toward Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) standards.

Highlights from this year’s report include:

• MSD has reaffirmed its commitment to provide supply of the investigational Ebola Zaire vaccine as part of international response efforts to address Ebola outbreaks. The vaccine has been administered to more than 200,000 people in Central Africa.
• MSD for Mothers, a $500 million initiative that aims to reduce maternal mortality, has now reached more than 9 million women in 48 countries. 
• With a continued focus on science, the company’s research in oncology is providing hope to a growing number of patients with development programs across more than 30 tumor types.
• As part of its commitment to the health and wellbeing of employees, MSD offers programs, resources and tools to 99% of its global workforce with the goal of reaching 100% in 2020.
• MSD continues to make progress on its environmental goals. An agreement with Invenergy Wind Development will help MSD reduce its GHG emissions to help combat climate change.
• New laboratories, offices and major renovations are designed to meet LEED Silver or the comparable country standard. The China Head Office is certified as LEED Gold and new South San Francisco Office was built to LEED Gold Standards.
• In 2018 and again in 2019, MSD was honored by the American Chemistry Society (ACS) as one of five winners of the Green Chemistry Challenge Awards.
• In 2018, the company signed on to Paradigm for Parity®, furthering its commitment to gender equality. In 2019, it joined P&G and Women Deliver to introduce the Deliver for Good Business Ally Network to strengthen collaboration within the private sector and to promote critical investments in girls and women.

Learn more about MSD’s approach to corporate responsibility and progress on key initiatives in the 2018/2019 Corporate Responsibility Report.

About MSD

For more than a century, MSD, a leading global biopharmaceutical company, has been inventing for life, bringing forward medicines and vaccines for many of the world’s most challenging diseases. Through our prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies and animal health products, we work with customers and operate in more than 140 countries to deliver innovative health solutions. We also demonstrate our commitment to increasing access to health care through far-reaching policies, programs and partnerships. Today, MSD continues to be at the forefront of research to advance the prevention and treatment of diseases that threaten people and communities around the world - including cancer, cardio-metabolic diseases, emerging animal diseases, Alzheimer’s disease and infectious diseases including HIV and Ebola. For more information, visit www.msd.com and connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn.

Forward-Looking Statement of MSD

This news release of MSD (the “company”) includes “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based upon the current beliefs and expectations of the company’s management and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. If underlying assumptions prove inaccurate or risks or uncertainties materialize, actual results may differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements.

Risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to, general industry conditions and competition; general economic factors, including interest rate and currency exchange rate fluctuations; the impact of pharmaceutical industry regulation and health care legislation in the United States and internationally; global trends toward health care cost containment; technological advances, new products and patents attained by competitors; challenges inherent in new product development, including obtaining regulatory approval; the company’s ability to accurately predict future market conditions; manufacturing difficulties or delays; financial instability of international economies and sovereign risk; dependence on the effectiveness of the company’s patents and other protections for innovative products; and the exposure to litigation, including patent litigation, and/or regulatory actions.

The company undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Additional factors that could cause results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements can be found in the company’s 2018 Annual Report on Form 10-K and the company’s other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) available at the SEC’s Internet site (www.sec.gov).

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Media Contacts:

Pam Eisele
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Carol Richardson
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Read the Report