Merck Takes Important Steps to Enhance Transparency
Merck is committed to industry-leading standards of transparency. Our Transparency Initiative, launched more than a year ago, includes a number of significant steps that we have already implemented and that we will be implementing over the coming months. This 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.
Grants: In October, Merck will begin enhancing transparency of our grants to patient organizations, medical professional societies and other organizations by posting on merck.com grants made by our Global Human Health division to U.S. organizations for independent professional education initiatives, including accredited continuing medical education (CME). Over the course of 2009, we will expand our disclosures to include other grants we make to medical, scientific, and patient organizations including grants made by The Merck Company Foundation and the Merck Office of Corporate Contributions.
Relationships with physicians: Merck has also been a leader in endorsing broader disclosure of financial relationships between physicians and industry. We strongly believe that engagement of the physician community with industry is in the best interests of patients and promotes information sharing and education about the newest medicines and treatments and patient experience. Merck has endorsed pending legislation offered by Senators Grassley (R-IA) and Kohl (D-WI) mandating disclosure of these financial relationships. Even in the absence of a legislative requirement, however, we are committed to begin disclosure in 2009 of payments to physicians who speak on behalf of our company or our products.
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 will publish in October 2008 our new Corporate Responsibility Report which contains additional metrics regarding the company's corporate responsibility performance and future commitments to enhanced transparency.