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the free encyclopedia.
Merck & Co., Inc.
NYSE:
MRK 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 in
1917 during
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)
of
Darmstadt,
Hesse. 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 in
1917 during
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, which currently
employees around 28,600 people in
54 countries.
In
2005, the CEO,
Raymond Gilmartin, retired at
the age of 64 following the
Vioxx scandal. Former
president of manufacturing
Richard Clark was named CEO of
the company.
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.
Products
Vioxx
In
1999, the United States
Food and Drug Administration
("FDA") approved
Vioxx (known generically as
rofecoxib,) 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.
On
August 19,
2005, Merck was found liable
in the death of a man who took
Vioxx. A
jury in
Angleton, Texas reached the
verdict after deliberating for 10
1/2 hours. Jurors voted 10-2 in
favor of the
plaintiff Carol Ernst, the
widow of the deceased man. Ernst
was awarded $253.4 million in
damages. The fact that Merck
apparently kept Vioxx on the
market knowing its potential risks
weighed heavily on the case. In
addition, at the time of the
verdict, there were over 4,000
other lawsuits pending against
Merck regarding Vioxx. A trial is
set to begin in
New Jersey (where Merck is
based) in
September
2005 and another case is set
to begin in
New Orleans, Louisiana in late
November
2005. Merck's stock fell $2.35
to $28.06/share (7.73%) in the
minutes after the verdict was
announced.
Merck is currently trying to
get a successor drug to Vioxx,
called Arcoxia (known generically
as
etoricoxib) approved in the
USA. The FDA has said it will
approve Arcoxia if it proves to be
safer than Vioxx. Two other drug
companies,
Pfizer and
Novartis, are trying to get
alternatives to Vioxx approved.
Their drugs are called Dynastat (parecoxib)
and Prexige (lumiracoxib),
respectively.
Diversity
Merck & Co. was named one of
the 100 Best Companies for Working
Mothers in 2004 by Working Mothers
magazine.
