Genomics helps us to select drug targets more accurately, to better understand how medicines act and perform in treating diseases and to identify more readily and quickly the safety issues involved in potential drug candidates. MSD is developing genomic methods that aim to predict which molecules will have undesirable characteristics and remove them early in the process. In this way, we can focus on improving success for the ones that are taken forward.

Better Technology for Better Trials
This technology will allow for better and faster clinical trials because we can identify genetic markers that are predictive of an outcome in the clinic. It should also lead to more precise “tailoring” of medicines to patients and potentially to higher patient compliance.

Pursuing Genomics
We are making important advances in this burgeoning field and its natural extension, proteomics. To speed these developments, Merck Research Laboratories President Peter S. Kim, Ph.D., a renowned molecular biologist, joined MSD in 2001. That same year, we acquired Rosetta Inpharmatics, a U.S. company that brings us cutting-edge genomic technology and research capabilities.

We are engaged in areas of science where there is exciting new knowledge of the biological pathways of the nervous system and the brain. The most visible achievements so far have been work in the fields of migraine headaches and psychiatric diseases. Our hope is that this scientific expertise will allow us to make great strides in discovering unique medicines for diseases where little or no treatment exists, such as Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia, bipolar disorders, stroke and obesity.

Researching for Revolutionary Cures
One important area of research is being conducted at our Neuroscience Research Centre, located in Terlings Park, UK, where we are working to develop effective treatments that will improve the quality and extend the lives of patients suffering from neurological and psychiatric diseases.

Once our scientists come aboard, we encourage them to gain international reputations as leading figures in their chosen fields. To achieve such standing, they join key organizations focused upon their scientific specialties, attend and present at relevant symposia, and regularly publish their research findings in leading journals. In 1999, for example, MSD scientists published about 700 peer-reviewed scientific papers. All of these activities help our scientists learn about the latest scientific breakthroughs and bring them to the attention of the Company.