Merck Animal Health to Acquire Worldwide Rights to Whisper® Veterinary Stethoscope System

Merck Animal Health (known as MSD Animal Health outside the United States and Canada) today announced plans to acquire worldwide rights for the Whisper® Veterinary Stethoscope System from Minnesota-based Geissler Companies. The Whisper Veterinary Stethoscope System is a Bovine Respiratory Disease (BRD) detection system which is used to determine the severity of an animal’s lung condition so that the appropriate treatment regimen can be started to protect the health of the animal.

Bovine Respiratory Disease is the most common disease affecting cattle in North America.1 This complex, multi-factorial infection affects the upper and lower respiratory tracts and can often be fatal, causing billions of dollars in economic losses for farmers. Identifying the cause of the disease and appropriate treatment pathways is vital to maintain an infected herd.

“We are pleased to add the Whisper Veterinary Stethoscope System to our comprehensive portfolio of vaccines and pharmaceutical products for the cattle industry,” said Rick DeLuca, president, Merck Animal Health. “It is important to provide our customers with the most innovative solutions available today that will meet their needs to maintain healthy stock and advance animal well-being.”

“We are excited about Merck Animal Health acquiring this technology,” said Randolph K. Geissler, CEO, Geissler Companies. “We believe Merck Animal Health’s wide commercial reach and expertise in Bovine Respiratory Disease will help bring the Whisper Veterinary Stethoscope System to more producers, and will result in improvements to animal health and well-being.”

The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

About the Whisper® Veterinary Stethoscope System

The Whisper Veterinary Stethoscope System is a Bovine Respiratory Disease (BRD) detection system which incorporates an electronic stethoscope to capture a lung sound, then utilizes computer-aided proprietary analytics to evaluate the severity of the animal’s lung condition so that the appropriate treatment regimen can be started.

Whisper is placed over the lungs of sick cattle and captures sound frequencies, determining the condition of the lungs and sending an objective score to a nearby computer. Using the Whisper score, producers can detect BRD early, determine the severity of the disease and select an appropriate treatment regimen, which may help them improve lung-health related outcomes.

About Merck Animal Health

For 125 years, Merck (NYSE:MRK) has been a global health care leader working to help the world be well. Merck Animal Health, known as MSD Animal Health outside the United States and Canada, is the global animal health business unit of Merck. Through its commitment to the Science of Healthier Animals™, Merck Animal Health offers veterinarians, farmers, pet owners and governments one of the widest range of veterinary pharmaceuticals, vaccines and health management solutions and services. Merck Animal Health is dedicated to preserving and improving the health, well-being and performance of animals. It invests extensively in dynamic and comprehensive R&D resources and a modern, global supply chain. Merck Animal Health is present in more than 50 countries, while its products are available in some 150 markets. For more information, visit www.merck-animal-health.com or connect with us on LinkedIn and Twitter at @MerckAH.

Forward-Looking Statement of Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, N.J., USA

This news release of Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, N.J., USA (the “company”) includes “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based upon the current beliefs and expectations of the company’s management and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. There can be no guarantees with respect to pipeline products that the products will receive the necessary regulatory approvals or that they will prove to be commercially successful. If underlying assumptions prove inaccurate or risks or uncertainties materialize, actual results may differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements.

Risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to, general industry conditions and competition; general economic factors, including interest rate and currency exchange rate fluctuations; the impact of pharmaceutical industry regulation and health care legislation in the United States and internationally; global trends toward health care cost containment; technological advances, new products and patents attained by competitors; challenges inherent in new product development, including obtaining regulatory approval; the company’s ability to accurately predict future market conditions; manufacturing difficulties or delays; financial instability of international economies and sovereign risk; dependence on the effectiveness of the company’s patents and other protections for innovative products; and the exposure to litigation, including patent litigation, and/or regulatory actions.

The company undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Additional factors that could cause results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements can be found in the company’s 2015 Annual Report on Form 10-K and the company’s other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) available at the SEC’s Internet site (www.sec.gov).

1 D. Griffin: Economic impact associated with respiratory disease in beef cattle. In: The Veterinary clinics of North America. Food animal practice. Band 13, Number 3, November 1997, ISSN 0749-0720, S. 367–377, PMID 9368983.

Contacts:

Merck Animal Health
Amy Firsching, 973-937-5453

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