Merck is dedicated to the ethical and responsible treatment of all animals used in the development of medicines and vaccines. Decisions regarding animal care, use and welfare are made balancing scientific knowledge and regulatory requirements with consideration of ethical and societal values. The care and use of laboratory animals in biomedical research is highly regulated. In general, the regulations govern housing, feeding, veterinary care, research project review, as well as internal and external oversight. Our standards for animal care and use meet or exceed applicable local, national and international laws and regulations. For further oversight, Merck voluntarily seeks review and accreditation of our animal research facilities by an independent organization, Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care-International (AAALAC), to provide a third-party review and accreditation of our animal research facilities. All of Merck's animal care and use programs are currently accredited by AAALAC. Where AAALAC standards differ from the standards imposed by local laws or regulations, Merck complies with the higher standard.
Merck's standing Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees (IACUC) provide oversight of the Company's animal care and use programs. They review all proposed animal studies, review the animal care and use programs, inspect facilities, investigate any concerns and report all findings to the Institutional Official For Animal Welfare. The Institutional Official is globally accountable for compliance for all Merck animal welfare policies and animal welfare regulations. All employees that are involved with research animals are given animal welfare training, which includes policies, the use of alternatives, the role of the IACUC and how to contact them, or Merck's Ethics Adviceline (link to ethics section). Merck places high value on its animal welfare stewardship responsibility and any employee violation of these policies would be grounds for disciplinary action up to and including dismissal.
Similarly, Merck holds outside animal research laboratories that we contract with to conduct animal research to high standards. We carefully assess third-party laboratories with whom we agree to work. We encourage external research laboratories to follow the highest standards for humane animal handling, care and treatment of research animals, and require that they comply with and conform to applicable animal welfare laws and regulations. Additionally, contracted research conducted at third–party laboratories is subject to protocol review by a Merck IACUC. Violations of these requirements can lead to termination of the relationship.
Replacement, Reduction and Refinement
Merck is committed to the philosophy of replacement, reduction and refinement (3Rs) for laboratory animal-based research and it is part of the staff orientation to in vivo research. It is our responsibility to use the most appropriate methodology and aggressively to seek scientifically valid alternatives to the use of animals in research. Whenever possible we use animal alternatives (replacements). These include in-vitro (cell culture) tests, computer modeling, robot screening and data-base mining. The vast majority of our biological studies do not involve animals.
As an example of refinement and reduction in the number of animals, Merck has created a world-class imaging department that allows scientists to view tumors in mice, and monitor the long-term effectiveness of new cancer treatments in a non-invasive way. In addition, Merck employs two information specialists in our research library, trained by the Animal Welfare Information Center of the U.S. National Agriculture Library, to assist Merck scientists in identifying potential animal alternatives.
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.
