FDA Grants Priority Review for EMEND, Merck's Investigational Medicine for Prevention of Chemotherapy-Induced Nausea and Vomiting.

Business Editors/Health Writers

UPPER GWYNEDD, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 6, 2002

Merck & Co., Inc. announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has assigned a six-month priority review to the company's New Drug Application (NDA) for EMEND(TM)(aprepitant), an investigational Substance P neurokinin-1 (NK-1) receptor antagonist studied in combination with other anti-emetic agents for the prevention of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV).

Merck's application for EMEND includes results from seven safety and efficacy studies that evaluated this once-daily, oral medicine in combination with other anti-emetic drugs in patients with acute (0 to 24 hours) and delayed (2 to 5 days) nausea and vomiting associated with single and repeated courses of highly emetogenic chemotherapy, including cisplatin.

Merck researchers have been studying investigational agents that block the binding of Substance P to NK-1 receptors in the brain and gastrointestinal tract to determine if these agents may inhibit the nausea and vomiting frequently induced by anti-cancer medicines.

Merck & Co., Inc. is a leading research-driven pharmaceutical products and services company. Merck discovers, develops, manufactures and markets a broad range of innovative products to improve human and animal health, directly and through its joint ventures.

EMEND(TM) is a registered trademark of Merck & Co., Inc. Platinol(R)-AQ (cisplatin injection) is a registered trademark of Bristol-Myers Squibb Company.

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed, and actual results may differ materially from those projected. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Forward-looking statements in this document should be evaluated together with the many uncertainties that affect our businesses, particularly those mentioned in the cautionary statements in Item 1 of our Form 10-K for the year ended Dec. 31, 2001, and in our periodic reports on Form 10-Q and Form 8-K (if any) which we incorporate by reference.