Merck is committed to bringing physicians and other health care professionals high quality medical education. Merck Medical Forums are designed to deliver balanced medical and scientific information to health care professionals, helping to ensure patients have access to the medicines and vaccines they need and that the products are used correctly.

Speakers in the Merck Medical Forum program are selected based on their expertise in the subject matter on which they will be presenting. Many are recognized as medical or scientific leaders in their field. By attending a Merck Medical Forum, health care professionals participate in an interactive learning experience on relevant therapeutic and health care industry topics. The goal of these interactions is to help attendees achieve improved medical results for their patients.

Merck has adopted strict standards for conducting Merck Medical Forums, including complying with the PhRMA Code on Interactions with Health Care Professionals. They are also conducted in compliance with FDA regulations, which include ensuring that any product information that may be presented is appropriately balanced regarding the products' potential benefits and risks and is consistent with approved product labeling.

As part of our commitment to increase transparency on financial support provided to outside groups and individuals, in the fourth quarter of 2009 Merck will begin to publicly disclose certain payments to US medical and scientific professionals who speak on behalf of the Company concerning our products and/or health care issues. Additional information on this commitment and Merck Medical Forums can be found on the attached position paper.

	Merck's Position on Disclosure of Payments, Commitment to Quality Medical Education, and Policies and Guiding Principles for Medical Education Programs (PDF*)
	A list of topics addressed by Merck speakers (PDF*)

Payments to Speakers in 2009

Payments made in 3rd quarter (PDF*) Merck Statement on US Speaker Fees (PDF*)

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.