Established in 1999, The Merck Company Foundation's Program on Pharmaceutical Policy Issues (PPPI) is designed to help academic institutions around the world conduct independent research in pharmaceutical and health policy issues. The goal is to enhance pharmaceutical policy research and build a strong foundation for more informed public policy on health care issues.

Over the years, this program has supported academic centers in Africa, Australia, Central America, Japan, Europe and the United States to strengthen their policy research, teaching and dissemination capacity. In 2008, The Merck Company Foundation phased down the PPPI because it had achieved its central objective of building academic capacity in pharmaceutical and health policy research.

Merck's PPPI seeks to encourage research in the following areas:

• Nature of competition in the pharmaceutical industry
• Regulation of the pharmaceutical industry
• Social, political and economic factors leading to health system change
• Health technology assessment and other policies that inform pharmaceutical coverage and reimbursement decisions
• Patient-centered models of care
• Factors contributing to pharmaceutical innovation
• Barriers to access to medicines and health care in the developing world
• Chronic diseases policies, especially in emerging markets

To date, Merck's investment in the PPPI has been more than $17 million in grant support toward programs on topics including access to medicines, health care resource allocation, incentives for innovation, health care and pharmaceutical reimbursement, comparative perspectives on health system reform, and the economics of the pharmaceutical industry.

For more information on PPPI grantees, research and publications, please click on the links below :

• Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA), Center for Biomedical Innovation
• University of Chicago (USA), The Program for Pharmaceutical Policy
• University of KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa), Health Economics and HIV/AIDS Research Division (HEARD)
• University of Occupational and Environmental Health (Japan), Program on Health Systems Adapted for an Aging Society
• University of Pennsylvania (USA)(PDF*)
• Cornell University (USA)
• University of Victoria (Australia)
• University Carlos III (Spain)(PDF* )
• University Pompeu Fabra (Spain)
• London School of Economics and Political Science (UK), Program for Advanced Research and Training in Pharmaceutical Policy Issues
• The Columbia/Stanford Consortium (USA)
• University of Costa Rica
• University of Florence and IMT, Lucca Institute for Advanced Studies (Italy)

We require annual progress and financial reports from all grantees, describing how funds were used and results achieved.

For further information regarding the PPPI or other Merck Company Foundation programs, please contact The Merck Company Foundation at +1-908-423-2042.

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

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