Merck Proxy Vote on HIV/AIDS Drug Resolution Seen
By Religious Investors as "Big Step Forward"
First-Year Support Urging Review of Economic Impact of AIDS Gets 13.9 Percent;
Merck Shareholder Vote is 1 of 4 at Major U.S. Pharmas Making AIDS Drugs.
NORTH BRANCH, NJ and NEW YORK, NY///April 27, 2004 ///Religious and other concerned shareholders announced that a preliminary total of 13.9 percent of votes cast at Merck (NYSE: MRK) today supported a first-year proxy resolution calling for a report on the economic impact the AIDS pandemic will have on the pharmaceutical company and its shareholders.
A first-year support level of 3 percent is required by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for this proxy resolution to be reintroduced at Merck in 2005.
The resolution, filed by the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, a member of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), calls on Merck to "review the economic effects of the HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria pandemics on the company's business strategy, and its initiatives to date, and report to shareholders within six months following the 2004 annual meeting." The vote at Merck is one in a group of four such shareholder resolution votes at major pharmaceutical companies, a group that also includes Abbott Labs (NYSE: ABT), Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY) and Pfizer (NYSE: PFE).
Unitarian Universalist Service Committee Treasurer James Gunning said: "Merck shareholders have shown today that the global pandemic of HIV and AIDS - especially in Africa - is one to which Merck must respond. The board of directors are responsible to the investor-owners and, most importantly, to those battling the disease. From a fiscal standpoint, the board needs to consider the risks and opportunities Merck faces in relation to the HIV/AIDS pandemic in emerging markets, and have implemented effective policies for dealing with the challenges."
Merck also faced ICCR-backed shareholder resolutions on patent issues and the use of shareholder resources for partisan political purposes. Those resolutions received vote totals of 7.9 percent and 10.4 percent, respectively.
Even though HIV medicines can turn AIDS from a death sentence into a chronic disease, only 4 percent of the estimated 40 million world citizens suffering from HIV/AIDS have access to the life-saving medicines. Of that total, 95 percent of the victims live in the developing world where major pharmaceutical companies have been faulted for not doing enough to make HIV/AIDS medications more readily available to the millions who need them.
The filers of the resolution are: ASC Investment Group; Boston Common Asset Management, Catholic Healthcare West; Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Brighton; Community Church of New York; Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace, St. Joseph Province; Ethical Funds; Maryknoll Sisters; Needmor Fund; Srs. of Loretto-CO; Society of Jesus - Maryland Province; Society of Jesus - Detroit Province; Society of Jesus - Missouri Province; Society of Jesus - Wisconsin Province; Society of Jesus - Oregon Province; Srs. of St. Joseph, Nazareth; Srs. of Charity of St. Elizabeth, NJ; United Methodist Church - General Board of Pension & Health Benefits; Unitarian Universalist Service Committee; Ursuline Provincialate, Eastern Province of the US; and Walden Asset Management.
ABOUT THE GROUPS
With more than 25,000 members and supporters, the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee is a nonsectarian organization that promotes human rights and social justice worldwide. The committee maintains partnerships in the United States, South and Southeast Asia, Central Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. Its programs are based on Unitarian Universalist principles that affirm the worth, dignity and human rights of every person.
The Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility is an association of 275 faith-based institutional investors, including national denominations, religious communities, pension funds, endowments, hospital corporations, economic development funds and publishing companies. ICCR and its members press companies to be socially and environmentally responsible. Each year ICCR-member religious institutional investors sponsor over 100 shareholder resolutions on major social and environmental issues. The combined portfolio value of ICCR's member organizations is estimated to be $110 billion.
CONTACT: Stephanie Kendall, for ICCR, (703) 276-3254 or skendall@hastingsgroup.com.