Merck to Donate 300,000 Masks to New Jersey for COVID-19 Emergency Response

KENILWORTH, N.J.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–In response to calls for personal protective equipment for health care 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 that it is donating 300,000 masks to New Jersey’s Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness. As of Wednesday, March 25, 2020, New Jersey had confirmed more than 3,500 novel coronavirus cases, the second-highest in the U.S. after New York state. On Sunday, Merck announced a donation of 500,000 masks for use in New York City.

“At Merck, we recognize that our global mission to save and improve lives starts in New Jersey, home of our global headquarters and thousands of our employees,” said Kenneth C. Frazier, chairman and chief executive officer, Merck. “We extend our deepest appreciation to the many healthcare providers and volunteers here and around the world who are doing so much to help affected patients and communities, and to our own employees who are focused on delivering our critically important medicines and vaccines to the patients who need them.”

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).