In formulating and refining our R&D approach, we engage with stakeholders such as the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), the World Health Organization, PATH, the GAVI Alliance, the Medical Research Council in the United Kingdom and the Global Fund for HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria, to better understand research priorities of countries worldwide. For example, careful assessment of rotavirus disease burdens with global experts helped inform both the design of our pentavalent rotavirus vaccine, ROTATEQ® (rotavirus vaccine, live, oral pentavalent), and focus our clinical research efforts including the trials currently underway for the vaccine in Africa and Asia.
We apply our research and development expertise and technology to identify potential treatments for infectious diseases in resource-poor settings that current medicines and vaccines do not adequately cover, especially bacterial diseases in the developing world, such as pneumococcus, and HIV and AIDS. We are also involved in a number of product development partnerships and research collaborations including some in which we have licensed compounds and donated products for further investigation to partners with specialized expertise. Partnerships include those with PATH for ongoing research into the use in developing countries of our vaccines GARDASIL® [human papillomavirus quadrivalent (types 6, 11, 16, and 18) vaccine, recombinant] and ROTATEQ ® [Rotavirus Vaccine, Live, Oral, Pentavalent]; with the NIH for follow up to our HIV vaccine research; and with the International Partnership for Microbicides in the search for an effective vaginal microbicide in developing countries to help protect women from HIV. In addition, Merck was a founding member of the Partnership for Disease Control Initiatives, a coalition of pharmaceutical companies and nongovernmental organization partners engaged in specific disease control or elimination programs for neglected tropical diseases.
Globally, we recognize that our access strategy and research focus are critical in the retention and attraction of employees, including some of the world's leading scientists who want assurance that the fruits of their discoveries will be available to patients worldwide. This is also an increasingly important factor for potential external research alliances.
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.
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