Merck publishes a print report, available here (insert hyperlink), which provides data on our key performance indicators and narrative updates on our performance. Additional metrics and information are available on this website. Both the print report and website were updated in September 2009. We will publish 2009 data by the end of the 3Q of 2010.

Merck is committed to increasing transparency in its reporting and engagement with stakeholders on those issues and concerns that matter most – both to our stakeholders and to Merck's future success. We believe that the best way to address the concerns, risks and questions facing our business and to build a foundation of trust is to be more transparent about the way we operate.

We created this report to provide information about our approach to corporate responsibility (CR), as well as background on our initiatives. We seek to be clear not only about our opportunities, but also about the challenges we face, what we are doing to address them and why. We discuss our approach, our performance and impact, and our priorities and commitments for the future.

Merck is committed to ongoing engagement with stakeholders to create shared value and help solve the tough issues facing business and society. Throughout our operations, from discovery and development to distribution, our engagement with stakeholders guides our business strategy and decisions. We believe it also enhances understanding of – and trust in – our business. This is illustrated in our latest report with a series of dialogues that offer stakeholder perspectives on the role of the pharmaceutical industry in society today. We complement the external perspectives with commentary from senior members of Merck management responding to stakeholders' expectations of our business.

Merck's reporting covers the Company's CR performance during 2008, with some additional information relating to 2009.

Based on feedback from stakeholders and the Company's own analysis, our reporting focuses on five specific, non-financial material issues:

• Researching new medicines and vaccines to address unmet needs
• Improving access to medicines, vaccines and health care
• Ensuring confidence in the safety and quality of our products
• Conducting ourselves ethically and transparently
• Managing our environmental footprint

Our reporting provides greater detail than the Company has in the past on these issues in terms of the challenges it faces, its strategy and its performance. It also includes key performance indicators, metrics and targets for many of the areas discussed.

In our reporting, Merck also seeks to articulate the business case for CR at Merck; to provide greater emphasis of CR impact; to explain how CR is integrated and governed within Merck; to be more explicit about how the Company measures and manages its operational risks; and to create a more robust stakeholder engagement process by including stakeholder voices in its annual CR report.

In 2008, Merck conducted a materiality assessment that included discussions with both internal and external stakeholders to identify those environmental, social and governance – or ESG –issues of greatest significance to multiple stakeholders and to Merck's future success, and those that we have the ability to control or influence.

Based on this assessment, we identified five priority environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues for the Company:

• Researching new medicines and vaccines to address unmet needs
• Improving access to medicines, vaccines and health care
• Ensuring confidence in the safety and quality of our products
• Conducting ourselves ethically and transparently
• Managing our environmental footprint

These issues were assessed by Merck based on three parameters: 1) the impact on Merck’s ability to achieve our business strategy; 2) level of concern to external stakeholders; and 3) the degree to which Merck can control and influence the topic or issue.

Merck recognizes the importance of issues that may not be within the Company's immediate or total control such as climate change, global poverty and access to medicines, particularly in the developing world. In these areas, we believe that we can, however, influence how progress is made in addressing these issues, particularly through public policy and advocacy or through partnerships with others.

In addition, in June and July 2008, Merck spoke with more than 20 external stakeholders representing a variety of constituencies. In one-on-one discussions we talked about our planned approach to reporting, Merck's materiality assessment process and the broad material headings we had identified. We also shared with them a draft outline of our CR report, and our ideas for key performance indicators, metrics and targets. Our goal in these discussions was to listen to our stakeholders' perspectives and recommendations. We have reflected their comments where feasible and appropriate in our website and CR report. We  held follow-up conversations with many of these stakeholders in 2009 to gather feedback in preparation for our most recent report.

In 2009, Merck's Corporate Responsibility Council reaffirmed these five issue areas as the company's ongoing priority ESG issues, and reaffirmed their support for a systematic process to identify specific goals, targets and key performance indicators with which to measure Merck's performance in each area.

We are using several external guidelines and measurement frameworks to inform the scope of our reporting, including the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI 3) Guidelines, the Millennium Development Goals, and the Access to Medicines Index and the U.N. Global Compact, which Merck signed on to in January 2009. Merck reports at a self-declared reporting level of B on the GRI3 Guidelines, which has been confirmed by the GRI.

Yes, Merck reports according to the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) G3 guidelines on our CR website and in our printed CR report. The voluntary GRI G3 guidelines offer a useful framework for transparent reporting about environmental, social and governance performance. Greater transparency on such matters is beneficial to our business because it helps to inform our stakeholders and also enables us to compare performance with peers on relevant metrics. We believe that this will help us focus on continuously improving the things that matter most. Merck reports at a self-declared reporting level of B on the GRI3 Guidelines, which has been confirmed by the GRI.

No, we did not obtain external verification. In 2008 and 2009, we focused on getting our process in place and obtaining bench line measurements that we can report against in the future.

While we did not obtain external verification, we did speak with numerous external stakeholders representing a variety of constituencies about the Company's planned approach to reporting, Merck's CR materiality assessment process and the broad material areas upon which it planned to report. The Company reflected their comments where feasible and appropriate in its website and CR report and will use the insights gained through these and continuing discussions with stakeholders to inform future reporting.

Yes, we did speak with more than 20 external stakeholders representing a variety of constituencies about the Company's planned approach to reporting, Merck's CR materiality assessment process and the broad material areas upon which it planned to report. The Company reflected their comments where feasible and appropriate in its website and CR report and will use the insights gained through these and continuing discussions with stakeholders to inform future reporting. For more information click here.

We plan to update our corporate responsibility web site as new information becomes available.

Merck plans to publish its next report in 2010.

Additional information, case studies and metrics are available on our corporate responsibility website. An abbreviated executive summary with key highlights of the Company's CR activities and  brochure containing Merck's Key Performance Indicators will also be available on the website and in hard copy later this year. We plan to update our online content as new information becomes available. Please check www.merck.com/cr/ periodically for the latest updates.

Please respond to our Feedback Survey. Your frank and honest feedback is important to us and will be helpful as we develop future reports. You can also send feedback to:

A copy of the report may be downloaded from this location. Or to send a request to have the report mailed to you, click here.