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.

The report covers the Company's CR performance during 2006-2007, with some additional information relating to 2008.

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

• Researching and developing new medicines and vaccines that 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

The report 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. The report includes key performance indicators, metrics and targets for many of the areas discussed.

In the report, 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 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
• Managing our environmental impacts

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 – 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 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. 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. We focused this year on getting our process in place and obtaining bench line measurements that we can report against in the future. Beginning with its next report in 2009, Merck anticipates establishing an independent report review committee or similar mechanism to ensure more formal, continual stakeholder engagement in our reporting process.

While we did not obtain external verification, 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.

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 2009.

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 will also be available on the website later this year. We plan to update our online content as new information becomes available. Please check our web site periodically for the latest updates.

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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.