What can we help you find?

November 11, 2011 8:08 am ET

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 Elimination Program for
the Americas (OEPA) partnership – 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). Other members of the partnership include the Pan American
Health Organization (PAHO), the Lions Clubs International Foundation,
the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Bill &
Melinda Gates Foundation.

“River blindness is a devastating disease that multiplies the challenges
and burdens already faced by poverty stricken populations,” said former
U.S. President and Carter Center founder Jimmy Carter. “Thanks to
thousands of dedicated health workers and volunteers in the Americas and
the generosity of Merck and the Mectizan Donation Program, this public
health threat will soon be eliminated from the Western Hemisphere.”

“It is tremendously rewarding to see our partnership starting to achieve
its long held goal of making river blindness a disease of the past.
These milestones clearly demonstrate that public-private partnerships
like this one are critical to achieving real improvements in global
health,” said Kenneth C. Frazier, President and CEO of Merck.

PAHO’s Directing Council passed a resolution in 2008 calling for the
interruption of transmission of river blindness in Latin America by
2012. In Latin America, river blindness has historically affected people
in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, and Venezuela.

Starting in 2012, approximately 80 percent of the half-million people in
the region previously at risk will no longer be in need of treatment for
river blindness. With today’s news, Guatemala and Mexico join Colombia
and Ecuador in having broken disease transmission country-wide. The two
remaining affected countries, Brazil and Venezuela, will continue
treatment in hopes of also interrupting transmission by the end of the
next year.

The MECTIZAN Donation Program

In October 1987, Merck announced it would donate the medication MECTIZAN
to all who need it for as long as necessary until onchocerciasis is
eliminated as a public health problem. The MECTIZAN Donation Program
reaches more than 100 million people annually. www.mectizan.org

In Latin America, since 1989, more than 10 million treatments of donated
MECTIZAN have been delivered by community health workers and
non-governmental organizations.

About The Carter Center’s OEPA

The Carter Center – through its sponsorship of Onchocerciasis
Elimination Program of the Americas (OEPA) – is leading a coalition of
partners in a historic effort to eliminate river blindness from the
Western Hemisphere. The Carter Center was founded in 1982 by former U.S.
President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, in partnership with Emory
University, to advance peace and health worldwide. For more information,
visit www.oepa.net
or www.cartercenter.org.

About Merck

Today’s Merck is a global healthcare leader working to help the world be
well. Merck is known as MSD outside the United States and Canada.
Through our prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies, and
consumer care and animal health products, we work with customers and
operate in more than 140 countries to deliver innovative health
solutions. We also demonstrate our commitment to increasing access to
healthcare through far-reaching policies, programs and partnerships. For
more information, visit www.merck.com
and connect with us on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

Forward-Looking Statement

This news release includes “forward-looking statements” within the
meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the United States Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements may include,
but are not limited to, statements about the benefits of the merger
between Merck and Schering-Plough, including future financial and
operating results, the combined company’s plans, objectives,
expectations and intentions and other statements that are not historical
facts. Such statements are based upon the current beliefs and
expectations of Merck’s management and are subject to significant risks
and uncertainties. Actual results may differ from those set forth in the
forward-looking statements.

The following factors, among others, could cause actual results to
differ from those set forth in the forward-looking statements: the
possibility that the expected synergies from the merger of Merck and
Schering-Plough will not be realized, or will not be realized within the
expected time period; the impact of pharmaceutical industry regulation
and health care legislation; the risk that the businesses will not be
integrated successfully; disruption from the merger making it more
difficult to maintain business and operational relationships; Merck’s
ability to accurately predict future market conditions; dependence on
the effectiveness of Merck’s patents and other protections for
innovative products; the risk of new and changing regulation and health
policies in the United States and internationally and the exposure to
litigation and/or regulatory actions.

Merck 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 Merck’s 2010 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).