Merck Announces Appointment of Organon & Co. General Counsel

KENILWORTH, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Merck (NYSE: MRK), known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, today announced the appointment of Deborah H. Telman as General Counsel for Organon & Co., its intended spinoff of its women’s health, legacy brands and biosimilars businesses.

In her new role, Deb will act as senior legal advisor to the Board of Directors, Chief Executive Officer and senior management and will be responsible for the company’s worldwide legal affairs, compliance and global environmental health & safety. She will join Organon from Sorrento Therapeutics where she served as Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary leading the legal, compliance, human resource and quality functions. Deb has spent more than 20 years in senior executive roles at several global companies including Abbott, Johnson Controls and Boeing. She also brings deep experience in mergers and acquisitions, including a major pharmaceutical spinoff with Abbott at the time of its spin from AbbVie.

“Deb’s proven leadership, industry knowledge and expertise will serve Organon employees, customers and shareholders well,” said Kenneth C. Frazier, chairman and chief executive officer, Merck. “Her counsel will help set the new company on a path to positively impact the lives of patients and improve public health.”

“I am very pleased and excited to have Deb join us and direct our legal, compliance and health and safety strategies at Organon,” said Kevin Ali, appointed chief executive officer of Organon. “Her experience and expertise will be fundamental in advancing Organon & Co.’s vision to be the world’s leading women’s health company.”

The appointment of the General Counsel marks another important milestone as Merck prepares Organon & Co. to operate independently. The spinoff transaction is on track for completion in the first half of 2021. For further information, please visit https://merck.unleashinggrowthpotential.com

About Merck

For more than 125 years, Merck, known as MSD outside of the United States and Canada, has been inventing for life, bringing forward medicines and vaccines for many of the world’s most challenging diseases in pursuit of our mission to save and improve lives. We demonstrate our commitment to patients and population health by increasing access to health care through far-reaching policies, programs and partnerships. Today, Merck continues to be at the forefront of research to prevent and treat diseases that threaten people and animals – including cancer, infectious diseases such as HIV and Ebola, and emerging animal diseases – as we aspire to be the premier research-intensive biopharmaceutical company in the world. For more information, visit www.merck.com and connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn.

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. 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 the recent global outbreak of novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19); 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 2019 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).