World Health Organization commends the MECTIZAN ® Donation Program (MDP) on its contribution to near-elimination of river blindness from the Western Hemisphere Partnership efforts result in interruption of disease transmission in four of six endemic countries in Latin America, and nine regions within five countries in Africa Merck has donated over one billion treatments to nearly 117,000 communities in Africa, Latin America and Yemen Longest running donation program of its kind aims to tackle a leading cause of preventable blindness Today on World Sight Day, 25 years after Merck (known as MSD outside the United States and Canada) started the MECTIZAN ® Donation Program (MDP), the company celebrates with partners important progress in the elimination of river blindness, one of the leading causes of preventable blindness worldwide. In October 1987, Merck made the decision to donate the medication MECTIZAN (ivermectin) for the treatment of river blindness (onchocerciasis) – as much as
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Merck and Partners Make Progress In Long-Term Commitment to End River Blindness
Colombia to Request Certification by the World Health Organization of Historic Elimination of River Blindness Public health officials at the 21st Inter-American Conference on Onchocerciasis in Bogota, Colombia announced that Colombia has eliminated onchocerciasis (river blindness) within its borders, making it the first country suffering from river blindness in the Americas to reach this goal. It also was announced that Guatemala and Mexico have now broken the cycle of transmission of river blindness. Both countries will halt their drug treatment programs for the disease in 2012 and begin the three-year post treatment monitoring process, already completed by Colombia, and required by the World Health Organization (WHO) to certify elimination of the disease. Officials attribute the successes in Latin America to a sustained public-private partnership led by The Carter Center that offers health education and drug treatment donated by Merck. The Carter Center – through its Onchocerciasis
John J. Horan, Former Merck Chairman and CEO Dies of Natural Causes at 90 Years of Age
John J. Horan, of Sea Girt, N.J. died on Saturday, January 22, of natural causes. He was 90 years old. Mr. Horan served as chairman of the Board of Directors and chief executive officer of Merck & Co., Inc., from 1976 to 1985. By the end of his tenure, Merck had grown into the largest pharmaceutical company in the world and would soon become the most admired company in America on Fortune magazine’s well-known list. Horan was instrumental in supporting Merck research that led to the development of ivermectin, a medicine to help prevent and treat the devastating tropical disease known as river blindness, and a long running partnership with the Carter Center that serves as the pioneering model for governmental and business cooperation in humanitarian efforts in developing nations. Upon his retirement as Merck's CEO, Horan continued to serve as a member of the Board of Directors and as its vice chairman until 1993. He earlier served as the company's president and chief operating officer.
Merck and Partners Make Progress in Long-Term Commitment to End River Blindness
Public health officials at the 20 th Inter-American Conference on Onchocerciasis in Antigua, Guatemala, confirmed that more than one-third of all Latin Americans who ran the risk of contracting river blindness (onchocerciasis), a leading cause of preventable blindness, are no longer at risk. Officials attribute the successes in Latin America to a sustained public-private partnership led by the Carter Center that offers drug treatment and health education. The Carter Center – through its sponsorship of the Onchocerciasis Elimination Program of the Americas (OEPA) – assists national ministries of health in six affected countries in Latin America to conduct health education and distribute Merck's medicine, ivermectin (registered trademark MECTIZAN). "Our continued progress toward eliminating river blindness is bringing improved health to hundreds of thousands of people in the Americas and the preservation of vision for future generations," said former U.S. President Jimmy Carter. "With