Community Relations
Disclosure of Company Grants to Organizations
Merck Takes Important Steps to Enhance Transparency
.Merck is committed to industry-leading standards of transparency. Our Transparency Initiative is intended to respond to stakeholder concerns and public interest in various aspects of our business, and includes efforts to increase transparency in all major aspects of our operations, from research to sales and marketing practices.
As part of our commitment to industry-leading standards of transparency, Merck Frosst will begin public reporting of its grants to third party organizations. This initiative will respond to public interest in payment of grants to third party organizations and broaden the visibility of Merck's support to medical, scientific and patient organizations.
In October 2008, Merck & Co., Inc. started to report grants over $500 to U.S patient organizations, medical professional societies and other organizations for independent professional education initiatives, including accredited Continuing Medical Education (CME). In 2009, Merck is expanding disclosures to include grants made in Europe and Canada, as well as grants made by the Merck Company Foundation and the Merck Office of Corporate Contributions.
Effective January 2009, Merck Frosst Canada Ltd. will report grant information to third party organizations, including the name of the organization receiving the grant, a brief description of the grant and the amount of the grant. This information will be posted on our corporate website at www.merck.com and updated on a quarterly basis.
Clinical trials registration and disclosure
In the area of clinical trials, Merck is also committed to a continuing high-level of transparency. We believe that clinical trial registries serve an important function for patients and health care providers to learn about and gain access to relevant clinical trials of experimental treatments or preventative agents. U.S. law requires that all trials Phase II-V must be registered on the ClinicalTrials.gov website; Merck's policy is to register at the trial initiation all clinical trials in patients that we sponsor and conduct worldwide. As we have for years, Merck also remains committed to disclosing results from registered trials of marketed products, regardless of outcome, on ClinicalStudyResults.org, and beginning October 2008 at ClinicalTrials.gov.
Corporate Responsibility Report
Merck published in October 2008 its new Corporate Responsibility Report, which contains additional metrics regarding the Company's corporate responsibility performance and future commitments to enhanced transparency. Click here for a link to the Merck & Co., Inc. Corporate Responsibility Report.
