Merck is a global healthcare company that develops medicines, vaccines, and animal health products. It advances long-term health by conducting research and development to create new treatments for diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer, then brings these medicines to patients, healthcare professionals, and institutions worldwide. The company’s products work by undergoing scientific discovery, clinical testing, and regulatory approval before being manufactured and sold or distributed through patient assistance programs. What sets Merck apart is its large, diversified portfolio across human medicines, vaccines, and animal health, along with a strong emphasis on R&D, global reach, and support services like Merck Connect and Merck Manuals that provide professional resources. Merck’s goal is to tackle major health threats by applying science to discover and deliver therapies that improve patient outcomes and public health across the globe.
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Rahway, New Jersey
Founded
1891
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Celebrating research and service with WCC's fall award winners. Women chemists studying public health and disease development were among those recognized at ACS Fall 2026 * Share * Save At the Women Chemists Committee (WCC) Luncheon on Aug. 25 in Chicago, Amaya Pablo, a graduate student at Northern Arizona University pursuing a Master of Public Health degree with an emphasis in Indigenous health, received the 2026 Overcoming Challenges Award. It was presented by WCC chair Indu Kheterpal and Committee on Chemists with Disabilities chair Partha Basu. Jin Xuen Lau of the University of Texas at Austin received the 2026 Priscilla Carney Jones Scholarship. She is currently working as an undergraduate research assistant at UT Austin with Emily Que. Lau's focus is synthesizing fluorescent probes to study the metalation states of zinc-dependent enzymes. Her research further investigates how disruptions in cellular zinc homeostasis may be implicated in disease development. Her career goal is to lead research, in an academic setting or at a national laboratory, focused on protein targeting and the development of chemical tools or small molecules that modulate biochemical pathways. The awards recognize excellence in chemistry September 29, 2025 Hallee Boyd of Oregon State University; Y. Emily Du of Princeton University; Karli Gaffrey of Colorado School of Mines; Golsa Gheibi of the California Institute of Technology; Pegah Honarmand of the University of California-Irvine; Virginia Jiang of Princeton University; Joyce Laboy Figueroa of the University of Puerto Rico, Humacao; Julianne Oshiro of the University of California, Los Angeles; Holly Weilbaker of the University of Wisconsin-Madison; and Kerui Xu of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign received the WCC/Lilly Emerging Talent Award, sponsored by Eli Lilly and Company. Winners presented their research at a special poster session held Aug. 25 at ACS Fall 2026. Lucy Huffman of the University of Rochester; Julia McAfee of the University of Virginia; Komal Na of University of California, Santa Barbara; Sara Nixon of University of Texas at Austin; Nhu Quach of the University of Minnesota; Laura Rodriguez of the University of Maryland; Ana Serna Moyeda of the University of Pennsylvania; and April Sweet Tapayan of Wayne State University received the WCC 2026 Merck Research Award, sponsored by Merck & Co. Winners presented their research in a special symposium held Aug. 24 at ACS Fall 2026. WCC presented two 2026 ChemLuminary Awards at ACS Fall 2026 recognizing ACS local sections that have held events and established programs to engage, recognize, mentor, and promote research by and accomplishments of women chemists. The Most Outstanding Local Section Women Chemists Committee Award was presented to the East Central Illinois Section, and the Best Local Section Women Chemists Event/Activity Award was presented to the Indiana Section. Next year, WCC will mark its 100th anniversary and will welcome all its awardees over the years to events being planned for ACS Spring and Fall 2027 to join the celebration. For more information on WCC awards and recognition, visit https://acswcc.org/awards/. Sara Cottle is the senior news editor for ACS News. Chemical & Engineering News ISSN 0009-2347 Enjoyed the article? Women chemists studying public health and disease development were among those recognized at ACS Fall 2026 cen.acs.org
MSD advocates stronger private sector collaboration to scale equitable cancer prevention and care in Nigeria. October 1, 2026 The roundtable focused on strengthening institutional and private-sector alignment, expanding HPV vaccination and exploring innovative financing solutions MSD (tradename of Merck & Co.) has advocated for increased private-sector engagement and partnerships as crucial to strengthening the cancer care ecosystem and expanding equitable access across prevention, screening, treatment, and financing in Nigeria. MSD has underscored the critical role of private-sector collaboration in sustaining and accelerating progress in cancer prevention, screening, treatment and elimination in Nigeria. The call was made at a high-level policy roundtable recently organised by MSD in partnership with Africa Health Business (AHB), themed 'Accelerating Cervical Cancer Elimination in Nigeria: Uniting Public and Private Sectors for Equitable Access.' The roundtable provided a platform to identify practical opportunities for partnership, investment and collective action in support of Nigeria's cervical cancer elimination priorities. As Nigeria continues to build momentum, wider multi-sector collaboration will be essential to sustain progress and address remaining gaps across the continuum of care. "Despite the significant burden of cervical cancer in Nigeria, the country continues to make meaningful progress towards cervical cancer elimination. Since its 2023 launch, over 17 million girls aged 9 - 14 have received the HPV vaccine under the Nigerian HPV vaccination programme1. This makes it one of the largest single-country HPV vaccination efforts globally2. Nigeria's Federal Government has made cervical cancer elimination a national health priority, aligning its efforts with the WHO's 90-70-90 targets for HPV vaccination, screening and treatment3. The opportunity now is to build on this momentum through stronger collaboration among government, the private sector, healthcare providers, civil society and patient advocates. Sustainable progress will require coordinated action to help ensure that prevention, screening, treatment and financing solutions reach the women and communities that need them most," stated Vuyo Mjekula, MSD's External Affairs Director for sub-Saharan Africa. "MSD continues to play a key role in cervical cancer elimination in Nigeria through ensuring vaccine access to young adolescents and creating enlightenment. Greater private sector participation can complement government efforts, support sustainable access and help extend the reach of prevention initiatives to eligible populations beyond those covered by the national programme," she added. The roundtable assembled key stakeholders from government, healthcare, public health, the private sector and the cancer advocacy community for a structured, high-level dialogue. Discussions centred on strengthening the cervical cancer care continuum in Nigeria through enhanced prevention and treatment efforts, expanded HPV vaccination, innovative financing mechanisms, and stronger public-private collaboration to support sustainable and measurable progress towards cervical cancer elimination. Nigeria has placed cervical cancer elimination firmly on the national health agenda, making it the only cancer with a dedicated strategic elimination plan and among the top three cancers covered by the Cancer Health Fund4. This reflects the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare's recognition that cervical cancer is largely preventable and curable when detected early and its commitment to strengthening prevention and control efforts5. This also underscores the Federal Government of Nigeria's recognition of cancer as a national health priority. MSD remains dedicated to supporting health priorities across sub-Saharan Africa through long-term partnerships that advance policy implementation, promote health equity, strengthen health systems, and help expand sustainable access to care for women
Austrian drug delivery company Cyprumed announced that MSD has initiated a Phase I clinical trial of a proprietary drug candidate formulated using Cyprumed's oral tablet technology. This marks the first Cyprumed technology programme to enter human clinical development and triggers a milestone payment under the companies' existing collaboration agreement. The study follows a non-exclusive licence and option agreement announced in April 2025 to develop oral formulations of MSD's peptides using Cyprumed's drug delivery technology. Under the agreement terms, Cyprumed is eligible to receive up to $493 million in upfront, development, regulatory, and net sales milestones. Cyprumed specialises in oral peptide formulations, focusing on technology platforms for oral administration of therapeutic peptides, including GLP-1 analogues, macrocycles, and mini-proteins.
Mission Bio showcases Tapestri across drug discovery and clinical development at World CDx Summit. South San Francisco, CA (BUSINESS WIRE) - Mission Bio, the single-cell multiomics leader, today announced that Merck & Co. and Incyte will each present new data generated using Mission Bio's Assay Services and Tapestri(R) Platform at the 16th World Clinical Biomarkers & Companion Diagnostics Summit (World CDx), alongside a third presentation from Mission Bio featuring new clinical data in acute myeloid leukemia. Together, the presentations demonstrate the use of single-cell multiomics from early-stage target validation through clinical mechanism-of-action studies and measurable residual disease assessment. Sydney Hart, PhD, Principal Scientist Functional Genomics at Merck & Co. (Merck), will present new functional genomics findings supporting its drug development programs, partnering with Mission Bio's Assay Services team using the Tapestri(R) Platform. Incyte's Erin Crowgey, PhD, Director of Translational Medicine, will present new single-cell data on INCA033989, an antibody targeting mutant calreticulin (CALR)-positive cells in myeloproliferative neoplasms disease subtypes. Mission Bio's Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Zivjena Vucetic, will present new clinical data demonstrating how single-cell measurable residual disease (MRD) profiling improves standard-of-care compared to current methods for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients. The presentations from Merck and Incyte reflect the growing use of Tapestri and Mission Bio's Assay Services by pharmaceutical companies to answer pipeline-specific questions across drug discovery and clinical development. MERCK: A SINGLE-CELL PLATFORM FOR LINKING CRISPR-EDITED VARIANTS TO TRANSCRIPTIONAL OUTCOMES * Date: October 8, 2026 * Time: 12:20 PM ET * Track: Biomarker Discovery & Translation * Speaker: Sydney Hart, Scientist, Merck & Co. Merck scientist Sydney Hart, PhD, partnered with Mission Bio's Assay Services team to build a targeted DNA and RNA single-cell assay on the Tapestri(R) Platform to study how CRISPR-edited genetic variants affect immune cell function in autoimmune and inflammatory disease. Evaluating several single-cell platforms, Merck ultimately selected Mission Bio's Tapestri Platform for its ability to capture targeted genomic and transcriptional information from the same cell while preserving cell yield, confirming expected disease effects and establishing a mechanistic link for target validation to improve drug development decision-making. INCYTE: CHARACTERIZING MECHANISM OF ACTION FOR MYELOPROLIFERATIVE NEOPLASMS TARGETED THERAPY (INCA033989) USING SINGLE-CELL MULTIOMICS IN THE CLINIC * Date: October 8, 2026 * Time: 11:30 AM ET * Track: Clinical & CDx Development * Speaker: Erin Crowgey, Director of Translational Medicine, Incyte Incyte's Erin Crowgey, PhD, will present new single-cell clinical data on their monoclonal antibody, INCA033989, that targets mutant calreticulin (CALR)-positive cells in essential thrombocythemia and myelofibrosis, which are disease subtypes of myeloproliferative neoplasms. These data were generated using a custom Tapestri assay designed by Mission Bio's Assay Services to measure 46 proteins and 37 genes in the same cell. The single-cell analysis demonstrated depletion of mutant CALR-positive cells and repopulation by wild-type cells with relevant clinical improvements. This illustrates how single-cell multiomics can help characterize the mechanism of action for targeted therapies and track target cell populations and their responses to therapy in the clinic. MISSION BIO: SINGLE-CELL MRD ASSESSMENT IN AML: ADVANCING BEYOND STANDARD CARE * Date: October 7, 2026 * Time: 2:10 PM ET * Track: Clinical & CDx Development * Speaker: Zivjena Vucetic, Chief Medical Officer, Mission Bio Addressing limitations of standard-of-care AML MRD assays like bulk NGS and flow cytometry due to complex clonal evolution and overlapping immunophenotypes, Dr. Vucetic will present clinical study data showing that single-cell multiomics achieved 93% sensitivity compared to 43% for flow cytometry and 71% for other molecular methods. Additional evidence presented will also support that single-cell MRD profiling provides more accurate stratification of relapse-free survival in AML patient samples. Single-cell multiomic approaches are redefining how functional genomic and clinical readouts are applied across drug development. In discovery, these approaches link genetic edits to their functional consequences to support target validation. In the clinic, they characterize how a targeted therapy acts on disease-driving cells and track molecular response over time. For MRD monitoring, single-cell data offer evidence to better anticipate relapse. Together, the three presentations illustrate how single-cell multiomics can connect genetic variation to cellular function, characterize treatment response in individual cell populations, and identify residual disease with greater resolution across drug development pipelines. All talks are open to registered World CDx attendees. Full agenda and registration details are available at https://world-cdx.com/. About Mission Bio Mission Bio is the single-cell multiomics leader. The company's Tapestri Platform is unique in its capabilities, offering an unparalleled level of granularity and precision that is critical for complex research areas such as cancer studies, pharmaceutical development, and advanced cell and gene therapies. Unlike traditional standard of care methods, Tapestri provides a level of precision that opens the door for more tailored and effective treatment strategies, notably by advancing the clinical utility of measurable residual disease (MRD) monitoring in diseases like acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Researchers globally depend on Tapestri to identify rare cell populations, understand mechanisms of therapeutic resistance and response, and establish key quality metrics for next-generation medical treatments. With the Tapestri Platform, Mission Bio continues to set the standard in the field, contributing significantly to the progress of personalized medicine and targeted therapies. To learn more about Mission Bio and the Tapestri Platform, please visit missionbio.com. (C) 2026 Business Wire, Inc. Like what you are reading?
A short-form video strategy for earning employee attention. Merck used humor to get buy in. Sept. 25, 2026 Before Merck's communications team released a single lesson in its new employee training series, it posted a run of TikTok-style sketches starring a senior communications leader. And the employee audience responded to them - the sketches pulled in nearly 1,000 subscribers to the series. At Ragan's Employee Experience Conference in Nashville last month, Craig Thomason, director of global employee and executive communications at Merck, said that employee-facing executive videos work best when leaders get on board at the outset. "When you arrive early to change, you have time to think," Thomason said. "You have time to prepare. You have time to experiment. You have time to adjust, and you can help people to understand what is happening before the uncertainty fills the silence." Thomason said the harder part is getting employees to spend two minutes watching. "When we begin with content, we often create messages to answer questions no one is asking," he said. "So when we begin with the audience, we can create something that they can use."