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			“Everyday Victories” seen with Vioxx   Skating legend Dorothy Hamill helped Merck launch late in 2001 a new direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising campaign for Vioxx, our COX-2 selective agent with U.S. approval for both osteoarthritis and acute pain. Merck believes DTC advertising is important because it encourages patients to talk to their physicians about their condition and possible treatment options. In 2001, Vioxx achieved $2.6 billion in sales, an increase of 18 percent over 2000.
	6 Introduction 6 Leading the way in genomics 6 Supporting our products with additional trials 7 Merck’s research strategy 7 Forging external alliances 8 Marketing: Identifying our customers’ needs 9 Getting medicines to the people 9 Strong today, stronger tomorrow 10 Merck-Medco to Become Separate, Publicly Traded Company 11 Our workforce provides Merck with a powerful competitive advantage

	Marketing: Identifying our customers’ needs To that end, we employ a global marketing system that identifies the most pressing needs of our customers and ensures that our marketing and sales forces cooperate closely with their scientific counterparts in our research laboratories to meet those needs. We added 1,000 professionals to our U.S. sales force in 2001 to help prepare for the new markets opened by studies of our five key drugs, to get Invanz and Cancidas off to strong starts, and to prepare for the potential launch of Zetia. We will add a further 500 people in 2002. Backing up these efforts, we are developing creative direct-to-consumer advertising campaigns in the United States, such as those with figure skater and osteoarthritis patient Dorothy Hamill (Vioxx) and football coach Dan Reeves, a survivor of high cholesterol and heart disease (Zocor). Merck also is devoting more resources to innovative communications for physicians via the Internet. We have offered branded (product specific) and unbranded (general disease information) Web sites for some time. We launched or strengthened several major Internet initiatives in 2001. One, called Merck Medicus, provides doctors with access to a virtual library of medical information on a 24/7 basis in an advertising-free environment. Another focuses on enhancing service and information for our vaccine customers. After a major make-over of MerckVaccines.com in June, key customer registrations tripled and about 20 percent of registered customers purchased vaccines via this Internet site. Some 15 percent of orders were placed outside of normal business hours, demonstrating the convenience that MerckVaccines.com gives our customers.
	Singulair – leading asthma controller in the U.S. market Just as practicing the piano has become a daily part of 9-year-old Jordan Reaves’ life, so has taking Singulair. His mother, Beth, of Yardley, Pa., says the family has noticed a real improvement in Jordan’s symptoms. “Since he began taking the medicine for asthma we have not yet had to make an emergency-room trip,” she says. Singulair is neither a steroid nor an inhaler, and is available in a chewable formulation that can be used in children as young as age 2. Early in 2002, Merck filed for marketing approval to use Singulair for allergic rhinitis, commonly known as hay fever. Global sales for Singulair in 2001 were $1.4 billion, an increase of 60 percent over 2000.
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