You've discovered something significant.

At Merck, we share your passion for developing breakthrough vaccines and medicines that advance human health. We are inspired by your discoveries and we want to work with you to bring your innovation from bench to bedside.

Favorable Licensing Candidates

We're interested in:

• Novel patented compounds
• Targets with proof of concept
• Molecules with a defined mechanism of action or testable hypothesis'
• Technologies with patent protection that provide a competitive advantage

Late-stage Opportunities: We will continue to pursue external licensing and partnership opportunities for differentiated products in all disease areas in late-stage development (Phase III-ready and later).

We are most interested in novel compounds that have large market potential for unmet medical needs. An attractive compound would have selectivity, potency, a demonstrated mechanism of action, preliminary toxicology data, oral availability, and a good half-life for once-daily administration. We also look for strong intellectual property protection on the target and the molecule.

Sending a proposal:
When contacting us about your discovery, we ask that you:

• Provide a clear, concise, non-confidential data package for review
• Highlight the advantages of your discovery
• Provide perspective on its value within the competitive landscape

Keep in mind that our review process is centralized and includes review by the appropriate experts from basic biology, chemistry, preclinical, clinical, marketing and patent.

We look forward to hearing about your discovery. Together, we can transform cutting-edge science into medicines that address unmet medical needs.

Merck Consumer Care

Merck Consumer Care (MCC) is a global team of experts, 1,500 strong in nearly 50 countries. We specialize in giving people comfort and relief from the physical strains of the day, the damaging effects of the environment, and the natural transitions of life. Through our consumer health products, we strive to enhance the quality of life for people and their families around the world. Each day, millions count on one or more of our industry-leading brands that help prevent or treat various common conditions. Our goal is to continue to be a trusted source of high quality, innovative and effective consumer care products.

MCC has a unique skill set to offer to potential partners:

• A strong consumer marketing and sales organization with a consistent history of growth through innovation
• Leader in Rx to OTC Switches
• Strategic focus on international growth
• Strong Alliance Management skills

Areas of Interest

• Upper Respiratory

  Areas of Interest:

  • Allergy
    • Antihistamine and its combination products
  • Nasal congestion
    • Allergy, cold and influenza
    • Oral and nasal decongestants
  • Allergy and congestion prevention
    • Natural prevention and treatment
    • Medical device

• Digestive Health

  Areas of Interest:

  • Constipation and laxative innovations
    • Ingredients, formats, delivery system
    • Pediatric constipation
  • Gastrointestinal health
    • Heartburn
  • Promote wellness
    • Digestive cleansing
    • Gut health (e.g. fiber, probiotics, prebiotics)
    • Gluten intolerance

• Therapeutic Skin Care

  Areas of Interest:

  • Protect and repair
    • Sunscreen/post-sun exposure, anti-wrinkle
  • Therapeutic skin care
    • Atopic dermatitis, rosacea, eczema, psoriasis, diaper rash, etc
    • Threats & growth (infestations, bacteria, fungus, wart / corn / callus / skin tag / moles)
    • Innovations for odor/wetness
  • Promote healthy skin
    • Beauty from inside out
    • Natural
    • Skin-whitening agents

• Device

  Areas of Interest:

  • Footcare and footwear devices
    • Improving balance related to aging, osteoarthritis, sports, etc
    • Electronic measuring or monitoring footwear devices
  • Injury and joint pain management
    • Lower body injury / joint pain management
    • Sport-related injuries and biomechanics
  • Non-invasive medical devices
    • Treatment, prevention, and diagnostic in the areas of:
      • Allergy, cough and cold
      • Digestive health
      • Skincare
      • Women healthcare

• Technology and Methods

  Areas of Interest:

  • Oral / buccal / sublingual / nasal / transdermal /topical delivery with the benefits of:
    • Faster onset of action
    • Increase bioavailability or efficacy
    • Innovative delivery and formulation to support the products of interest
    • Solubility enhancers
    • Compliance enhancement
  • Format and dosage
    • Innovative and differentiated format for existing and pipeline products
    • Convenient and unique dosage form
    • Longer lasting
  • Ingredients
    • Novel or differentiated ingredient, ideally suitable for existing in-line or pipeline assets
    • Ingredient for the combination with existing in-line or pipeline assets
  • Packaging innovation
    • Easy to apply for topical application
    • Innovative packaging with additional consumer benefits

Merck Animal Health

Merck Animal Health's strategic goal is to achieve sustained growth through the continued provision of integrated solutions with innovative animal health products and services that meet the evolving needs of our customers. We are committed to building the best animal health company in the industry, thereby making a difference to veterinarians, producers, pet owners and society as a whole.

Merck Animal Health has a rich pipeline, a diverse portfolio and a broad geographic reach. This is demonstrated by our wide product range, presence in all major species with extensive animal health management platforms, excellent value-added services and an attractive a global network of technology, expertise and market coverage.

We are determined to ensure that our customers benefit from our unrivaled capabilities. Our major pharmaceutical and vaccine R&D centers are complemented by sites dedicated to individual species, diseases and regions of the world. The Merck Animal Health facilities leverage the science and discoveries of Merck, and an existing network of high technology partners that include universities, government-backed institutions and industry partnerships.

Areas of Interest

• Pharmaceuticals and Biologics

  Areas of Interest:

  • Immunology and Inflammation
    • Atopy including chronic otitis externa therapeutics
    • Disease-modifying osteoarthritis drugs
  • Neurosciences and Ophthalmology
    • Pain management, other than NSAIDs
    • Keratoconjunctivitis sicca
  • Diabetes and Endocrinology
    • Diabetes type 1-related therapeutics
    • Obesity
    • Cushing's Disease
  • Cardiovascular
    • Congestive heart failure, disease-modifying therapeutics
  • Oncology
    • Priority I: Maintenance therapy and immunomodulation
    • Priority II: Cytotoxics with clear differentiation to current standard of vet care
  • Growth and Performance in Livestock
    • Novel, nonsteroidal approaches
    • Biologics and biotechnological approaches
  • Reproduction
    • Novel solutions for livestock synchronization
  • Anti-infectives
    • Antibacterials including non-conventional, eg, non-antibiotic antimicrobial approaches
    • Immunomodulation
  • Parasiticides
    • Ectoparasiticides
    • Endoparasiticides
    • Premise control
  • “Theragnostics”
    • Early pregnancy
    • Companion diagnostic to our products

• Vaccines

  Areas of Interest:

  • Viral, bacterial, and parasitic vaccine candidates in areas of high medical need
  • Therapeutic vaccines for non-infectious diseases (see therapy areas under Pharmaceuticals and Biologics)
  • Improvements on our existing vaccines, which would allow for reduced dosing or increased cross-strain protection
  • Vaccine candidates against emerging diseases
  • Food safety

  Novel technologies for:

  • Antigen discovery and selection
  • Vaccine storage, sterile mixing and delivery systems
  • Thermostability
  • Novel adjuvants and immunomodulators (including mucosal)
  • Protein expression systems
  • Novel cell lines and culture systems

• Drug Delivery

  Areas of Interest:

  • Transdermal delivery
    • Penetration enhancers, etc.
    • Not interested in patch technologies
  • Implants
    • Biodegradable and non-biodegradable
    • Zero order release with no initial burst
    • Delivery time from weeks to months
  • Oral delivery technologies
    • Taste-masking technologies
    • Ingredients or formulations that can enhance permeability
    • Novel oral protein / peptide delivery systems (eg, insulin)
    • Novel solubilizing excipients with accompanying toxicology package for safety assessment studies
  • Injectable delivery
    • Injection devices (eg, those capable of large injection volumes)
  • Technologies for delivery of water-insoluble compounds