Content Topic: Innovation

How Merck Canada is responding to the COVID-19 pandemic

We are inspired by a shared vision and mission to save and improve lives and have been committed to fighting against the COVID-19 pandemic from the beginning. This includes both our investment in research that could help protect Canadians from this and future pandemics, as well as supporting the communities in which we work and live in.

Investing in COVID-19 therapies

Vaccines are playing a crucial role in helping prevent the spread and seriousness of cases of COVID-19, but they alone will not eliminate the virus. To help keep Canadians safe, more tools and treatments are urgently needed to fight COVID-19, which is why we are investing in research for potential treatments that will have a meaningful and direct impact on patients suffering with COVID-19.

We believe a range of medicines and vaccines will be needed to end the pandemic. That’s why Merck and Ridgeback Bio entered into a collaborative agreement last year to develop and commercialize molnupiravir, our investigational oral antiviral therapy.

“If approved for use, molnupiravir has the potential to address an important unmet need for an effective and simple at home treatment for patients with mild-to-moderate COVID-19, with the potential of avoiding potential hospitalization or death.”

— Gretty Deutsch, Vice-President, Medical Affairs, Merck Canada Inc.

In August of 2021, we submitted to Health Canada a rolling submission for molnupiravir. This process allows for the review of early safety, quality and efficacy data while later-stage clinical trials take place.

As well, our commitment to keep improving the lives of Canadians means we know when we must lend a hand and collaborate across borders and companies. That’s why we have entered a partnership to support the manufacturing and supply of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine.

“Investment in vaccines and antivirals medicines will ensure Canadians’ health and economic security. Unfortunately, viral outbreaks will continue to happen, and we need a different kind of preparedness, which will take political and industry leadership.”

— Marwan Akar, President and Managing Director of Merck Canada

Investing in our communities

We have always helped empower the communities we have the privilege to work with. During the pandemic we have invested funds in numerous local Canadian organizations that work on the frontlines. We have also strategically invested funds to ensure that PPE has been available where it has been needed most.

How we are showing up:

  • $100,000 contribution for the purchase of PPE through Innovative Medicines Canada for distribution across the country
  • $200,000 in sponsorships for patient associations to support patient programs to ensure continued care for cancer patients, including support for diagnosis and treatment
  • $100,000 in financial support for relief efforts for vulnerable populations to various charitable organizations across Canada, including the Canadian Red Cross, Food Banks Canada, and the United Way
  • Encouragement of employees to support their communities, including allowing medically trained employees to volunteer their time to aid in our healthcare system where needed.

COVID-19: How we are responding

As a company dedicated to saving and improving lives, we have a special responsibility to help in the fight against COVID-19. We’ve been fully committed to developing an effective response to the COVID-19 pandemic since it was first recognized

We wanted to share with you some of the ways that we are engaged. We will also continue providing updates as we all address this pandemic.

Protecting the safety of our employees and their families

We have taken extensive steps to ensure that any sites that are currently open, including our plants and labs around the world, are as safe as possible for our colleagues and to provide additional support to our colleagues who are working at our sites. Our other colleagues are working remotely – and, together, we are all focused on advancing our mission to save and improve lives.

Supporting our customers

To limit the spread of the disease, we have asked our employees to work from home. This situation will be reassessed regularly based on government recommendations.

We have also paused in-person interactions with health care providers and all our field-based employees are working from home. However, we are committed to continuing to support you through various platforms. Such as:

For medical information, reporting an AE or filing a product quality complaint you may contact our Medical Information Center:
Website: www.askmerck.ca
Email: medinfocanada@merck.com
Phone: 1-800-567-2594 ext. 2

For placing an order or obtaining information on the availability of our products:
Order Management Centre at
1-800-4MERCK1 (1-800-463-7251).

For other inquiries, you may reach out to your local representative by phone or email.

Ensuring that our supply of medicines and vaccines reach our patients and customers

Thanks to our committed colleagues, our manufacturing plants and clinical supply sites remain open around the world and we are taking steps to make sure that continues to be the case. We continue to have normal supply levels for our medicines and vaccines. We remain committed to keeping our stakeholders including regulatory authorities informed of any important updates regarding the supply of our medicines and vaccines.

We continue to monitor the situation closely to ensure quick action in case of potential disruption and will keep you informed should anything change.

Our commitment to patients

Our clinical trials are on-going. Driven by our steadfast commitment to patients, we are making every effort to ensure that patients in affected areas who are enrolled in clinical trials are able to continue their treatment and receive appropriate care and monitoring.

Research Efforts: pursuing multiple pathways

We are seeking to develop enduring solutions that can be deployed globally now and for future outbreaks through multiple treatment and vaccine approaches.

We are pursuing our research efforts for treatment approaches that we believe will give us the opportunity to have a meaningful and direct impact on patients suffering with COVID-19.

Our collaboration with Ridgeback Bio, as well as our planned acquisition of OncoImmune that was announced on November 23, underscore our commitment to developing an effective response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Supporting Front Line Workers and our Communities #MerckCanadaGivesBack

We are also actively engaged in a variety of relief efforts to help people and communities around the world, such as contributing financial support to global and local relief organizations.

In Canada, we have identified 4 areas where we can have the most impact.

FRONT LINE HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONAL

Keeping our health care professionals safe is critical during a pandemic such as this one. As the need for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) keeps increasing, Merck Canada has donated approximately $100,000 for the purchase of PPEs such as masks. This donation will be managed by Innovative Medicines Canada who will work hand in hand with the Public Health Agency of Canada to ensure appropriate distribution of PPEs across the country where needed.

OUR COMMUNITIES AND VULNERABLE POPULATIONS

Helping our communities has always been important for us. As of today, Merck Canada has donated approximately $100,000 to various charitable organizations across Canada to help support vulnerable populations during this pandemic.

This work is on-going as we continue to consider other possible ways to support our communities.

PATIENT ASSOCIATIONS

We are supporting patient associations through our sponsorship of patient programs to ensure continued care for cancer patients, including support for diagnosis and treatment in a COVID-19 environment in a timely and ethical manner.

EMPLOYEE VOLUNTEERING

At Merck Canada, employees are encouraged to support their communities as appropriate through volunteer services during work hours. This includes allowing medically trained employees to volunteer their time to aid in our healthcare system where needed. We are extremely proud of the many ways that our employees are helping, either through volunteering services or donations.

We recognize this situation is evolving rapidly. We will be adjusting our plans as needed as new information becomes available and we will keep you informed as necessary.

Global Efforts

We are also supporting patients, health care providers and communities through a range of relief efforts around the World. Merck has contributed or committed more than $30 million to COVID-19 relief efforts thus far. This support has included donations of medicines, personal protective equipment (PPE) donations for health care providers and funding to relief organizations, including the United Nations Foundation’s COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund in support of the World Health Organization and to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Foundation Emergency Response Fund.

The Lung Cancer Innovation Challenge

Helping Fight Lung Cancer Together

Did you know that the survival rate of lung cancer is among the lowest of all types of cancer? Last year alone, Canada had approximately 30,000 new cases of lung cancer and lost more than 21,000 people to the disease.1 Of the new diagnoses, 35 per cent were in Ontario.2 Alarmingly, approximately half of all lung cancer cases are diagnosed at Stage 4, further worsening chances of survival.1

Despite the availability of today’s innovative medicines, improving outcomes for Canadian lung cancer patients requires further research, collaboration, and commitment.

“By joining hands with organizations, like MaRS, who have the same vision as we do at Merck, we have a much better chance at finding much-needed novel solutions resulting in fewer people who lose their loved ones to lung cancer.“

– AnnA Van Acker,
President and Managing Director, Merck Canada

Here and Now

At Merck Canada, we are on a mission to save and improve lives. We have a crucial role to play in our healthcare system by driving change and collaborating with others. Together, we believe we can make a difference. That’s why we teamed up with MaRS for the Lung Cancer Innovation Challenge.

Our work aims to improve outcomes for people living with lung cancer by challenging Ontario-based innovators to identify, implement, and scale solutions that can reduce the time between diagnosis and treatment, especially for priority patient groups (e.g., rural and lower socioeconomic populations).

Calling all Ontario-based innovators, including healthcare workers, corporations, non-profit and private organizations, and even passionate members of the general public, please join us.

As a hub for best-in-class life sciences talent, Ontario accounts for more than half of Canada’s research and development spending in the life sciences sector. At this important moment in the history of lung cancer treatment, we believe this Challenge can help make a meaningful, transformative difference.

“Innovative partnerships allow us to tap into some of Ontario’s brightest minds in order to bring new, invaluable solutions to people facing cancer.”

AnnA Van Acker,
Former President and Managing Director, Merck Canada

To hear more from AnnA and learn more about the challenge, please watch this panel discussion.

LEARN MORE