We recognize that when people take our medicines and vaccines, they must have confidence in their efficacy and safety. Ensuring this confidence is crucial to us.
Research and clinical trials show that, although medicines and vaccines have many benefits, they pose risks to some people. All of these products have side effects, but not everyone will experience them. This is why pharmaceutical manufacturers make extensive information about their products available, enabling doctors to evaluate the risks as well as the benefits of any treatment and discuss them with their patients.
Medicines and vaccines are widely tested before they are approved for marketing. This testing is governed by a comprehensive regulatory scheme and our own research policies. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration estimates that a compound entering Phase I clinical trials has only an 8 percent chance of reaching the market1 — after the researching company has provided extensive data that demonstrate safety, efficacy and quality that meet rigorous standards. Merck sells only products that meet these rigorous standards that have been approved by the applicable regulatory agency.
The content on this page was last modified on October 24, 2008.
1Food and Drug Administration. Innovation or Stagnation: Challenge and Opportunity on the Critical Path to New Medical Products. U.S. Department of Human Health Services, FDA, March 2004.
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