Throughout the world, health care costs are rising as a result of a variety of factors; chief among them is the greater utilization of services and cutting-edge technologies. As populations continue to age in the developed world, and improved health technologies, such as novel pharmaceuticals, push back morbidity, payers are increasingly focusing attention on the cost of pharmaceuticals within their overall health care budgets. 

The content on this page was last modified on September 15, 2009.

Merck & Co., Inc., Whitehouse Station, NJ, USA, and Schering-Plough Corporation, Kenilworth, NJ, USA, are now one company. We have combined our global operations under the name Merck & Co., Inc. We are working to update our corporate responsibility Web site to reflect our new, combined, global organization.