Merck & Co., Inc. or Merck Sharp and Dohme (as it is known outside the USA and Canada) is a US pharmaceutical company. It was originally the US subsidiary of the German company, Merck KGaA. In common with many other German assets in the United States, Merck & Co. was confiscated after the First World War and set up as an independent company. It is now one of the top 5 largest pharmaceutical companies in the world both by capital and revenue.

History

Merck & Co. traces its origins to Friedrich Jacob Merck (1668) and Emanuel Merck (1816). Emanuel and his successors gradually built up a chemical-pharmaceutical factory that produced — in addition to raw materials for pharmaceutical preparations — a multitude of other chemicals.

In 1891, George Merck established his roots in the United States and set up Merck & Co. in New York, USA. Merck & Co. was confiscated following the First World War and set up as an independent company in the United States. Today, the US company has about 70,000 employees in 120 countries and 31 factories worldwide. It is one of the top 5 pharmaceutical companies worldwide, much larger than its German ancestor.

Mission

Merck & Co. or MSD describes itself as a “a global research-driven pharmaceutical company. Merck discovers, develops, manufactures and markets a broad range of innovative products to improve human and animal health , directly and through its joint ventures.” Its mission is “to provide society with superior products and services by developing innovations and solutions that improve the quality of life and satisfy customer needs, and to provide employees with meaningful work and advancement opportunities, and investors with a superior rate of return .

Merck also states that it prides itself on its commitment to diversity and its social conscience . The Merck Company Foundation has distributed over $160 million to educational and non-profit organizations since it was founded in 1957.

Merck has published the Merck Manual of Medical Information since 1899, which has been used by doctors and families alike.

Merck is also famous for publishing their Merck Index, an authoritative collection of information about chemicals.

Vioxx

In 1999, the United States Food and Drug Administration ("FDA") approved Vioxx, a Merck product that became widely used for treating arthritis. Thereafter, studies by Merck and by others found an increased risk of heart attack associated with Vioxx use when compared with Naproxen (an established drug used for treating arthritis). The position of Merck at the time was that there was no indication of this risk in the original placebo-controlled safety trials, and that it was possible that the effect was more related to Naproxen decreasing the risk of heart attacks than one of Vioxx increasing the risk. There was significant controversy over the matter since such an effect had not been previously observed with Naproxen.

On September 23, 2004, Merck received information about results from a clinical it was conducting that supported previous findings of increased risk of heart attack among Vioxx users. [1] On September 28, Merck notified the FDA that it was withdrawing Vioxx from the market, and it publicly announced the withdrawal on September 30.

On November 5 the medical journal The Lancet published the results of its analysis of the available studies. It concluded that “the unacceptable cardiovascular risks of Vioxx (rofecoxib) were evident as early as 2000...” [2] The Lancet condemned Merck for having kept the drug on the market, despite its knowledge of the risks, and also criticized the FDA for its failure of regulatory oversight.

Merck is now facing numerous lawsuits from Vioxx users.

Diversity

Merck & Co. was named one of the 100 Best Companies for Working Mothers in 2004 by Working Mothers magazine.

External links

• About Merck & Co.
• Yahoo! - Merck & Co., Inc. Company Profile
• About Merck KGaA
• History of Merck