Merck

Merck is a multinational pharmaceutical company based in Kenilworth, New Jersey.¹⁾

In May 2002, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation purchased stock in Merck.²⁾

Merck is a member organization of the World Economic Forum.³⁾

Merck is a contributing member of AcademyHealth.⁴⁾

CBS News By Jim Edwards MoneyWatch May 6, 2009,

Merck made a “hit list” of doctors who criticized Vioxx, according to testimony in a Vioxx class action case in Australia. The list, emailed between Merck employees, contained doctors' names with the labels “neutralise,” “neutralised” or “discredit” next to them.⁵⁾

Merck is part of the COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Wellcome Trust, and Mastercard to “accelerate treatments, vaccines, and diagnostics”.⁶⁾

Merck is the original patent holder for Ivermectin which has been available for decades and is now off-patent.⁷⁾ It has proven to be highly effective at preventing and treating COVID-19.⁸⁾

Merck is producing and marketing an experimental oral mutagenic antiviral pill with Ridgeback Biotherapeutics for COVID-19 called molnupiravir.^{9) 10) 11)}

Merck, Gates Foundation Give $60 Million to Fight HIV/AIDS in Botswana August 25, 2010

The Merck Company and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have announced a joint five-year, $60 million contribution to a public-private partnership working to fight HIV/AIDS in Botswana.

Each foundation will contribute $30 million to the African Comprehensive HIV/AIDS Partnerships (ACHAP) to support new and ongoing efforts to meet the needs of the 137,000 Batswana (people from Botswana) living with HIV. ACHAP's second-phase initiatives will include efforts focused on HIV prevention, the treatment of HIV patients who also have tuberculosis, and program sustainability to help Botswana become self-sustaining in its efforts to combat the HIV epidemic among its citizens. With the funding, the two foundations have contributed a total of $166.5 million to ACHAP, and Merck continues to donate HIV medicines to the effort.

Between 2001 and 2007, ACHAP, which is led by the government of Botswana, helped prevent an estimated 53,000 HIV-related deaths. Today, some 90 percent of Batswana living with HIV receive treatment, compared to less than 5 percent when the program began nine years ago.

“For nearly ten years, Merck has been a partner in helping the government of Botswana save the lives of thousands of people living with HIV and AIDS, and we are confident our new funding will continue to contribute to the well-being of the country,” said Merck chairman and CEO Richard T. Clark. “This collaboration is a great success story on many levels and has become a model for many countries both on and off the African continent.” ¹²⁾