The mission of MSD is to provide society with superior products and services by developing innovations that improve the quality of life and satisfy customer needs, while providing employees with meaningful work and opportunities, and investors with a superior rate of return.

1. Our business is preserving and improving human life. All of our actions must be measured by our success in achieving this goal. We value, above all, our ability to serve everyone who can benefit from the appropriate use of our products and services, thereby providing lasting consumer satisfaction.
2. We are committed to the highest standards of ethics and integrity. We are responsible to our customers, to MSD employees and their families, to the environments we inhabit, and to the societies we serve worldwide. In discharging our responsibilities, we do not take professional or ethical shortcuts. Our interactions with all segments of society must reflect the high standards we profess.
3. We are dedicated to the highest level of scientific excellence and commit our research to improving human and animal health and the quality of life. We strive to identify the most critical needs of consumers and customers, and we devote our resources to meeting those needs.
4. We expect profits, but only from work that satisfies customer needs and benefits humanity. Our ability to meet our responsibilities depends on maintaining a financial position that invites investment in cutting-edge research and that makes possible effective delivery of research results.
5. We recognize that the ability to most competitively meet society's and customers' needs depends on the integrity, knowledge, imagination, skill, diversity and teamwork of our employees, and we value these qualities highly. To this end, we strive to create an environment of mutual respect, encouragement and teamwork—an environment that rewards commitment and performance and is responsive to the needs of our employees and their families.