Merck & Co., Inc. — Ethics Grade C

Merck & Co., Inc. receives an overall ethics grade of C (48/100) on CancelCo's corporate accountability database. Sector: Pharmaceuticals. Market cap: Large Cap.

Category scores

• labor: 55
• privacy: 60
• consumer: 25
• environment: 50
• humanRights: 50

Documented incidents (2)

• Vioxx heart attack cover-up (high, 2011) — Withdrew Vioxx after it caused 27,000+ heart attacks. Internal docs showed Merck knew about risks and hid data. Paid $4.85B in settlements.
• Drug pricing practices (medium, 2023) — Sued the US government to block Medicare drug price negotiations mandated by the Inflation Reduction Act.

Documented good deeds

• Mectizan donation program — Donated Mectizan to treat river blindness in Africa for 35+ years, reaching 300M+ people annually.