Merck Significantly Expands its Patient Assistance Program Offerings to Provide Access to More Medicines for People in Need

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Sept. 22, 2010, 8:30 a.m. EDT · Recommend · Post:

Merck Significantly Expands its Patient Assistance Program Offerings to Provide

Access to More Medicines for People in Need

Survey shows more than one third of uninsured, unemployed Americans have skipped

or incorrectly taken their prescribed medications to save money, yet many may

qualify for free medicine

WHITEHOUSE STATION, N.J., Sep 22, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Today, Merck announced

that it has significantly expanded the number of Merck medicines available

through its Merck Helps patient assistance programs, which include the Merck

Patient Assistance Program, the Merck Vaccine Patient Assistance Program, the

ACT Program for Oncology and Hepatitis C medicines, and the SUPPORT® Program

for HIV/AIDS medicines. The Merck Helps programs provide Merck medicines and

vaccines free of charge to eligible individuals, primarily the uninsured, who

earn up to 400 percent of the federal poverty level who, without assistance,

cannot afford needed Merck medicines.

To help increase awareness of all patient assistance programs, the Merck Company

Foundation has provided a grant to NeedyMeds, a nonprofit organization with a

mission to help people who cannot afford medicine or healthcare costs by making

information about these programs available at no cost. NeedyMeds will be using

the grant to translate its website into Spanish as well as working closely with

various healthcare clinics to increase knowledge of and access to patient

assistance programs.

" Merck has historically recognized the critical need for people to have access

to the prescription medicines and vaccines they require, even if they lose their

insurance, " said Rosenblatt, M.D., executive vice president and chief

medical officer at Merck. " Our patient assistance programs now provide access to

even more medicines for chronic conditions like asthma, diabetes and high blood

pressure, allowing us to reach more people in need. "

A recent telephone survey of more than 2,000 Americans, conducted by

Interactive on behalf of Merck(1), found that more than one third (35%) of those

who are uninsured and unemployed did not buy or refill medicines they were

prescribed, cut their dosage in half, or took expired medicine as a way to save

money. Furthermore, while 32 percent of U.S. adults are potentially eligible for

patient assistance programs, 79 percent of those who are uninsured and

unemployed are somewhat or not at all aware that such programs exist.

" Unfortunately, many patients don't know that there are patient assistance

programs available if they can't afford their prescriptions, and the need is

great, " said Sagall, MD, co-founder of NeedyMeds. " That's why we are

pleased to partner with Merck to help further raise awareness of these

programs. "

" With an uncertain economy and near double-digit unemployment, more patients are

struggling to pay for their medicines than ever before, " said Emmanuel Durham,

director of Community Healthcare Network -- Helen B. Atkinson Health Center, New

York, NY. " I have seen firsthand how the Merck Helps programs can keep needed

medicines in reach. "

About Merck Helps

For more than 50 years, Merck has helped millions of patients gain access to

medicines for chronic conditions like asthma, diabetes and high blood pressure

through the Merck Patient Assistance Program. As a global healthcare leader

working to help the world be well, Merck provides its medicines and adult

vaccines for free to people who do not have prescription drug or health

insurance coverage and qualify for a Merck Helps program. Merck Helps programs

include:

-- The Merck Patient Assistance Program, which helps eligible patients who earn

up to 400 percent of the federal poverty level gain access to Merck medicines

for chronic conditions like asthma and diabetes.

-- The Merck Vaccine Patient Assistance Program, which provides free vaccines to

adults over age 19 who do not have health insurance coverage for vaccines and

who earn up to 400 percent of the federal poverty level.

-- The ACT Program for Oncology and Hepatitis C medicines, which provides free

reimbursement support services and refers appropriate patients to a patient

assistance program for eligible individuals who earn up to 500 percent of the

federal poverty level.

-- The SUPPORTProgram for HIV/AIDS, which provides free reimbursement support

services and refers appropriate patients to a patient assistance program for

eligible individuals who earn up to 500 percent of the federal poverty level.

All Merck Helps programs are confidential and patients may qualify for the Merck

Patient Assistance Program and the Merck Vaccine Patient Assistance Program if

they have a household income of $43,320 or less for individuals, $58,280 or less

for couples, or $88,200 or less for a family of four, even if the financial

situation is temporary due to unemployment or other reasons. Patients may

qualify for The ACT Program and the SUPPORT Program if they have a household

income of $54,150 or less for individuals, $72,800 or less for couples, or

$110,250 or less for a family of four. With the Merck Helps programs, there are

no application fees, no co-payments and a simple enrollment process. Many

medicines can be delivered to a patient's home or doctor's office at no charge.

Patients in need of information should visit www.MerckHelps.com or call (800)

PAP-5400.

About NeedyMeds

NeedyMeds is a non-profit organization founded in 1997 as a resource for people

who need help with the cost of medicine. The mission of NeedyMeds has been,

since its inception, to make comprehensive and reliable information about

assistance programs available to low-income patients and their advocates at no

cost. NeedyMeds' website is visited by over 14,000 people each workday.

About Merck

Today's Merck is a global healthcare leader working to help the world be well.

Merck is known as MSD outside the United States and Canada. Through our

prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies, and consumer care and

animal health products, we work with customers and operate in more than 140

countries to deliver innovative health solutions. We also demonstrate our

commitment to increasing access to healthcare through far-reaching policies,

programs and partnerships. For more information, visit www.merck.com.

(1) This telephone survey was conducted by Interactive on behalf of Merck

from August 20 to 23, 2010 among 2,012 U.S. adults of whom 549 do not have any

prescription drug benefits and 131 do not have any prescription drug benefits

and are not employed.

SOURCE: Merck

Media Contact:

Merck

Ron , 908-423-6449

Copyright Business Wire 2010