Merck Donates a Half a Million Masks to Support COVID-19 Emergency Response in New York City

KENILWORTH, N.J.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–$MRK #COVID19–In response to the calls for personal protective equipment for healthcare workers and other front-line responders battling the COVID-19 pandemic, Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK), known as MSD outside the U.S. and Canada, today announced it has provided a half a million (500,000) personal protective masks to New York City for use as part of urgent efforts to address the outbreak in New York. These masks were delivered this morning to New York City Emergency Management. As of Saturday, March 21, 2020, New York State had confirmed more than 10,000 novel coronavirus cases.

“COVID-19 is a generational challenge to the global community,” said Kenneth C. Frazier, chairman and chief executive officer, Merck. “At Merck, we embrace our fundamental responsibility to provide our essential medicines and vaccines to patients who need them, especially in times of crisis, and to do our part to support healthcare providers and their communities. We are enormously grateful for the front-line healthcare personnel who are helping the thousands of patients now affected by COVID-19.”

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Merck remains focused on protecting the safety of its employees and their families, assuring that our supply of medicines and vaccines reach our patients, contributing our scientific expertise to the development of antiviral approaches, and supporting our healthcare providers and the communities in which they serve.

About Merck

For more than 125 years, Merck, known as MSD outside of the United States and Canada, has been inventing for life, bringing forward medicines and vaccines for many of the world’s most challenging diseases in pursuit of our mission to save and improve lives. We demonstrate our commitment to patients and population health by increasing access to health care through far-reaching policies, programs and partnerships. Today, Merck continues to be at the forefront of research to prevent and treat diseases that threaten people and animals – including cancer, infectious diseases such as HIV and Ebola, and emerging animal diseases – as we aspire to be the premier research-intensive biopharmaceutical company in the world. For more information, visit www.merck.com and connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn.

Forward-Looking Statement of Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, N.J., USA

This news release of Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, N.J., USA (the “company”) includes “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based upon the current beliefs and expectations of the company’s management and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. If underlying assumptions prove inaccurate or risks or uncertainties materialize, actual results may differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements.

Risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to, general industry conditions and competition; general economic factors, including interest rate and currency exchange rate fluctuations; the impact of the recent global outbreak of novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19); the impact of pharmaceutical industry regulation and health care legislation in the United States and internationally; global trends toward health care cost containment; technological advances, new products and patents attained by competitors; challenges inherent in new product development, including obtaining regulatory approval; the company’s ability to accurately predict future market conditions; manufacturing difficulties or delays; financial instability of international economies and sovereign risk; dependence on the effectiveness of the company’s patents and other protections for innovative products; and the exposure to litigation, including patent litigation, and/or regulatory actions.

The company undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Additional factors that could cause results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements can be found in the company’s 2019 Annual Report on Form 10-K and the company’s other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) available at the SEC’s Internet site (www.sec.gov).

Contacts

Media:

Patrick Ryan

(201) 452-2409