Merck Strengthens Its Commitment to Advancing Cardiovascular Health Care
WHITEHOUSE STATION, N.J., Nov. 14, 2009 – Following the completion of its merger with Schering-Plough, Merck today confirms and underscores its commitment to marketing and developing cardiovascular medicines for a range of cardiovascular disorders.
"Today's Merck has a robust portfolio and pipeline of cardiovascular medicines for conditions ranging from heart disease to metabolic syndrome. More than ever, our new company is committed to improving patient outcomes and providing comprehensive solutions to prevent and treat heart disease," said Peter S. Kim, Ph.D., president, Merck Research Laboratories. "We're confident more can be done through science and education to save and improve the lives of people suffering from cardiovascular disease." Cardiovascular diseases are the number one cause of death globally. More people die annually from cardiovascular diseases than from any other cause.
The company's renewed commitment builds on a deep heritage of scientific excellence in cardiovascular medicine. In the past 50 years, Merck and Schering-Plough have, when combined, introduced more than 40 products targeting cardiovascular diseases. Today's Merck offers a range of products and tools for cholesterol management and hypertension to address the needs of diverse patient types. We also are transforming how our commercial organization interacts with health care providers and patients by aligning those interactions around the common goal of improving patient outcomes.
Developing Breakthrough Cardiovascular Medicines
Today's Merck is investing billions of dollars annually in research and development. More than 1,000 of our scientists and professionals are engaged in the fight against heart disease, and the companies' combined pipeline creates a strong and promising future of breakthrough cardiovascular medicines. Our researchers are using diverse science -- from integrated genomics to experimental medicine -- to identify novel targets and to map the links between heart disease and illnesses like diabetes and metabolic syndrome.
Our mid- to late-stage pipeline includes more than eight innovative investigational candidates for the treatment of a wide range of cardiovascular diseases including atherosclerosis, atrial fibrillation and thrombosis, ischemic reperfusion injury and hypertension.
Merck also continues to lead the way in implementing large clinical studies with the potential to advance understanding of the role of medicines in cardiovascular outcomes and has over six large cardiovascular outcomes trials underway.
"No other health care company is doing more to study cardiovascular disease than today's Merck," said Dr. Kim. "Our outcomes trials alone include more than 90,000 patients and are being conducted in approximately 40 countries. And, we have more than 50 other ongoing trials focused on testing investigational medicines for cardiovascular disease."
Collaborating and Partnering to Advance Cardiovascular Care
Today's Merck is strengthening and forming new strategic alliances to advance cardiovascular research and development. The company has ongoing cardiovascular collaborations with Actelion Pharmaceuticals, Arena Pharmaceuticals, Cardiome Pharma Corp., Galapagos NV, NicOx, Mochida Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Millennium, PeriCor Therapeutics, Inc., Portola Pharmaceuticals, and Xenon Pharmaceuticals. Merck also is partnering with academic institutions such as Oxford University; Duke Clinical Research Institute; Harvard University, The TIMI Study Group, Brigham and Women's Hospital; Columbia University, Atherosclerosis Research Center; University of Pennsylvania; Baylor School of Medicine, University of Washington; and Montreal Heart Institute. In addition Merck is a founding member of the HRP Initiative, a joint research and development effort to advance the understanding, recognition and management of high-risk plaque.
"Innovation depends on thousands of scientists building on each other's breakthroughs and scientific collaboration speeds up the innovative process," said Dr. Kim. "Merck has a renewed sense of urgency and focus and, through new and existing collaborations, we will bring resources to the best external science wherever it emerges."
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Vic ti sei tradito. Come mai quel punto zero in fondo diversamente dagli altri? Scherzi del copia incolla non credo (che dovrebbero avere tutti il .0 meno qualcuno non catturato) propendo per uno scherzo da manipolazione manuale del medesimo messaggio. 
D'altra parte siamo vicini a carnevale...
