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July 31, 2013 8:00 am ET

Merck (NYSE: MRK), known as MSD outside of the United States and Canada, today issued its 2012 global corporate responsibility report. The report, available at www.merckresponsibility.com, focuses on Merck’s corporate responsibility activities, progress and performance during 2012 in four priority areas where the company is positioned to have a positive impact: Access to Health, Environmental Sustainability, Employees and Ethics and Transparency.

Highlights from the 2012 report include:

• People reached through the company’s major responsibility programs and partnerships: 269 million
• Women in executive roles: 31 percent
• Global corporate giving: $1.7 billion
• Water recycled and reused during 2012: 3.3 billion gallons
• Reduced direct greenhouse gas emissions since 2009: Met 10 percent greenhouse gas reduction goal 3 years early
• Developing new partnerships to reduce maternal mortality through Merck for Mothers

In addition, this year’s report provides information on the company’s commitment to corporate responsibility within the Consumer Care and Animal Health businesses.

Merck continues to use several external guidelines and measurement frameworks to inform the scope of its reporting, including the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI 3.1) Guidelines, the Millennium Development Goals, the Access to Medicine Index and the United Nations Global Compact.

Future information will be provided through a Twitter conversation at #BeWell.

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.

Merck 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. These statements are based upon the current beliefs and expectations of Merck’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 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; Merck’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 Merck’s patents and other protections for innovative products; and the exposure to litigation, including patent 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 2012 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).