Merck Issues 2019/2020 Corporate Responsibility Report
October 14 2020 - 8:00AM
Business Wire
Report Demonstrates Merck’s Approach to
Long-Term Sustainability for Business and Society
Merck (NYSE: MRK), known as MSD outside the United States and
Canada, today issued its 2019/2020 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.
“The multiple challenges we face as a global community in 2020
reinforce more than ever the importance of operating responsibly,
following our mission of saving and improving lives and delivering
sustainable value for our business and society,” said Kenneth C.
Frazier, Merck chairman and chief executive officer. “At Merck, we
embrace our responsibility to be a force for good in the world –
not only through our medicines and vaccines but also through our
broader actions to address systemic inequities and to create an
environment where all people are valued and respected.”
The report reflects the company’s belief that serving social
good and achieving business success are deeply interdependent.
For the second year, Merck has published a separate
environmental, social and governance (ESG) report that details
progress toward the Global Reporting Initiative and the
Sustainability Accounting Standards Board standards. The company
also has incorporated reporting against the new Culture of Health
for Business (COH4B) framework focused on managing impact on health
of employees, families and communities.
In line with Merck’s focus on addressing health disparity,
diversity and economic inclusion, some highlights from this year’s
report include:
- Recognizing changing global access needs, Merck conducted a
strategic reevaluation of its Access to Health Guiding Principles.
A refreshed set of principles and key performance indicators to
track the company’s progress and performance are presented in the
report.
- Since July 2018, the company has donated and shipped more than
250,000 doses of its investigational vaccine to the World Health
Organization (WHO) in support of Ebola outbreak response efforts in
the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Merck has committed to
continuing to supply doses as needed to support ongoing outbreak
response efforts in the DRC and neighboring countries.
- Global distribution of our vaccines continues to expand; in
2019, approximately 73 percent of our vaccines were distributed
outside the U.S., up from 28% in 2010.
- Through the MECTIZAN® Donation Program, 344 million treatments
were shipped to endemic countries for the elimination of river
blindness and lymphatic filariasis (LF) in 2019.
- Merck for Mothers, our $500 million initiative to help create a
world where no woman has to die giving life, has now reached over
11 million women in 48 countries. In the U.S., the Safer Childbirth
Cities initiative is catalyzing solutions to address racial
disparities in maternal health in 10 cities and hopes to expand to
10 more in 2020.
- Advancing our commitment to diversity and inclusion, 46% of the
company’s Board of Directors are now female. The company also
became a signatory of the Valuable 500 aimed at cultivating a
disability-confident workplace.
- In 2019, diverse spend represented an 11 percent increase of
our total procurement spend, exceeding our corporate goal of $2
billion with minority-owned, women-owned, veteran-owned, LGBT-owned
and disability-owned business enterprises. Supporting diverse
suppliers positively impacts the communities in which we live and
work.
Learn more about Merck’s approach to corporate responsibility
and progress on key initiatives in the 2019/2020 Corporate
Responsibility Report.
About Merck
For more than 125 years, Merck, known as MSD outside of the
United States and Canada, has been inventing for life, bringing
forward medicines and vaccines for many of the world’s most
challenging diseases in pursuit of our mission to save and improve
lives. We demonstrate our commitment to patients and population
health by increasing access to health care through far-reaching
policies, programs and partnerships. Today, Merck continues to be
at the forefront of research to prevent and treat diseases that
threaten people and animals – including cancer, infectious diseases
such as HIV and Ebola, and emerging animal diseases – as we aspire
to be the premier research-intensive biopharmaceutical company in
the world. For more information, visit www.merck.com and connect
with us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn.
Forward-Looking Statement of Merck & Co., Inc.,
Kenilworth, N.J., USA
This news release of Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, N.J.,
USA (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.
There can be no guarantees with respect to pipeline products that
the products will receive the necessary regulatory approvals or
that they will prove to be commercially successful. 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 the global outbreak of novel coronavirus disease
(COVID-19); 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 2019
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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