Merck Company

Introduction
The healthcare industry is composed of many different players who have the same goal which is to ensure the well-being of people, particularly with regards to their health.  One such player in this industry is pharmaceutical companies.  This paper will be analyzing the products of Merck Pharmaceutical Company concentrating on the importance of research in the development of their products.  It will also be presenting the company’s mission statement and how consistent the company is in relation to its mission statement.  Furthermore, it will analyze on whether the company’s patient and care-givers site is helpful to the company’s target audience or otherwise.
Overview of Merck Company

In order to analyze Merck Pharmaceutical Company comprehensively, an overview about the company and its mission statement must first be established.
Merck & Co. Inc. was established in 1891 with the concern on prioritizing the needs of patient that have been otherwise not met during this period.  The company primarily produces vaccines and medicines as well as delivering these to those who need them the most (“About Merck” 2008).
Merck & Co. Inc. is also a global research pharmaceutical company.  Its mission is “to provide society with superior products and services by developing innovations and solutions that improve the quality of life and satisfy customer needs, and to provide employees with meaningful work and advancement opportunities, and investors with a superior rate of return” (“Mission Statement” 2008).  The company is committed to the preservation and improvement of human life by maintaining high standards in its ethics, particularly in research in order to attain their mission (“Mission Statement” 2008).
Products of Merck Company
Because of their continuous research, the company has been able to release new products for the betterment of today’s society.  The most recent product of the company that was licensed and approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the United States was Gardasil, a cervical cancer vaccination.  The company announced the release of the vaccine on March 19, 2008 (“Product News” 2008).
Gardasil is a vaccine that was developed in order to prevent the development of cervical cancer, dysplastic lesions and genital warts among females from age nine to twenty-six.  Based on their research, they had discovered that these diseases were caused by HPV types 6, 11, 16 and 18 (“Product News” 2008).
Importance of Research to Merck
Research is extremely vital to the progress of Merck as a pharmaceutical company.  Through their constant and meticulous research, the company is able to create medicines that have become important in today’s society.  The company’s research resources include the acquisition of the most advance tools in the market, chemistry, genomics and computerized molecular modeling.  These resources allow the company to remain at the forefront of discovery in their industry (“Our Research” 2008).
Because of the technology advancement and their meticulousness in hiring employees in their research and product development department, the company is able to create products that are able to satisfy the needs of their customers.  At the same time, the availability of the most up-to-date technology allows the company’s researchers to work in an environment for them to create meaningful and advancement opportunities. As a result, they are able to improve and preserve human life in today’s society as well as meeting the company’s mission statement and values (“Mission Statement” 2008).
Patient and Caregivers’ Site
Since the company produces vaccines and medicines, there is always the possibility that it may be inappropriately administered which would cause adverse side effects to the patient which would not just aggravate the medical condition of the patient, but may also cause the caregiver to lose his or her license to practice.
In order to prevent this, the company had provided a patient and caregivers’ site in order to properly educate the consumers of the company’s products on side effects, dosage, manner of administration and situations when the product could not be used.  The website is extremely helpful for both patients and caregivers.  The main page presents the names of the products so that the patient or the caregiver is able to locate more information about the medicine or vaccine.
The page that discusses the medicine or vaccine is presented in two forms: one is written in a simple and straight-to-the-point manner so that the average individual without any background in medicine would be able to understand information about the product comprehensively.  It is also presented in a more technical and scientific way which can be comprehended only by someone who has a background in medicine such as a caregiver (“Patient & Caregiver U.S. Product Web sites” 2008).
Conclusion
For a company such as Merck & Co. Inc., research is extremely vital in its operations since it is only through research that the company would be able to create products in order to meet their mission which is to provide superior vaccines and medicines in order to improve the quality of human life.  One such example of this is the release of Gardasil, a vaccine developed to prevent cervical cancer and other diseases among females from occurring.  For patients and caregivers who would need information with regards to their products, the company provided a website where information about a particular vaccine or medicine would be understood by both patients and caregivers.
References
Merck & Co., Inc. (2008). About Merck. Retrieved on 08 April 2008, from
http://www.merck.com/about/.
Merck & Co., Inc. (2008). Mission statement. Retrieved on 08 April 2008, from
http://www.merck.com/about/mission.html.