KENILWORTH - Merck (NYSE: MRK), known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, today announced financial results for the second quarter of 2020.
'Despite the impact COVID-19 had on patient access to health care providers, Merck continued to execute well with business momentum improving through the quarter. We remain confident that Merck will drive strong long-term growth based on underlying demand for our unique portfolio of innovative medicines, vaccines and animal health products. Our financial strength underpins our capital allocation priorities, including business development and the breakthrough research and development that creates value for society and our shareholders,' said Kenneth C. Frazier, chairman and chief executive officer, Merck. 'In response to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, Merck is moving with urgency on three critical priorities: protecting the health and safety of our employees and their families, sustaining the supply of our medicines and vaccines to our patients and customers, and mobilizing our unique scientific expertise and experience to develop vaccines and antivirals that we believe may help save many lives.'
COVID-19 Research Highlights
Building on the company's experience with antivirals and vaccines, Merck is accelerating two COVID-19 vaccine development efforts and a novel antiviral candidate, specifically, Merck in collaboration with IAVI is developing V590, a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidate that uses a recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus (rVSV) platform, the same platform that was used for Merck's approved Ebola Zaire virus vaccine. V590 is currently in preclinical development and clinical studies are planned to start this year.
Merck has acquired Themis to accelerate the development of V591, a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidate that uses a measles virus vector platform based on a vector originally developed by scientists at the Institut Pasteur, a world-leading European vaccine research institute, and licensed exclusively to Themis. V591 is currently in preclinical development and clinical studies are planned to start in the third quarter. The acquisition closed in June.
Merck in collaboration with Ridgeback Bio is developing MK-4482 (formerly known as EIDD-2801), an orally available antiviral candidate for the treatment of COVID-19. In preclinical studies, MK-4482 demonstrated antiviral properties against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, as well as the coronaviruses responsible for MERS and SARS. The candidate is currently being evaluated in Phase 2 clinical trials.
As previously announced, Merck also is collaborating with the Institute for Systems Biology to investigate and define the molecular mechanisms of SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 and to identify targets for medicines and vaccines, as well as participating in the National Institutes of Health (NIH)-led Accelerating COVID-19 Therapeutic Interventions and Vaccines (ACTIV) consortium.
'We are conscious of our abiding responsibility to help advance vaccine and antiviral efforts as part of the global response to SARS-CoV-2 and to ensure broad, equitable and affordable global access to any medicines and vaccines we bring forward,' Frazier said. 'This pandemic underscores the essential role of Merck and the biopharmaceutical industry in addressing the world's greatest health challenges and underscores the importance of a health care ecosystem that incentivizes risk-taking and innovation. Ultimately, scientific and medical knowledge will help overcome this ongoing global pandemic and that is why we must continue to trust and invest in breakthrough science.'
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.
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. There can be no guarantees with respect to pipeline products that the products will receive the necessary regulatory approvals or that they will prove to be commercially successful. 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).
Contact:
Pamela Eisele
Tel: (267) 305-3558
MERCK & CO., INC. 
