Supporting a Sustainable Future
Healthier animals mean a sustainable food supply, protection for humans against diseases passed from animals, and longer, healthier lives for pets.
Sustainability – it’s our integrated approach to support protecting the future and creating a better ecosystem to maintain our planet’s health, its people and its animals. It’s a commitment that drives us every day as we explore new ways to improve food safety and advance the health and welfare of animals.
At Merck Animal Health, we support sustainability in several ways from our preventive medicines and vaccines to our technology solutions and through our manufacturing and packaging innovations. Importantly, our efforts are tied to Merck’s overall sustainability goals as outlined in the company’s recent Impact Report.
Our medicines and vaccines are both the foundation of our business and the cornerstone of our sustainability efforts. Quite simply, healthy animals are more sustainable. They improve efficiency and productivity on farms, as well as lower emissions and create food for a growing population. When it comes to companion animals, routine care like vaccines improves pets’ quality of life and helps to protect their owners from transmittable diseases.
We produce more than 102 billion doses of vaccines per year, many of which help prevent diseases that affect people, too. And, we are actively collaborating with stakeholders to tackle major population health challenges, such as antimicrobial resistance, zoonotic diseases and vector-borne diseases.
Our technology solutions also help address some of the major challenges farmers face in operating sustainable farms. In fact, our SENSEHUB® monitoring brand, a leading-edge technology that provides data points on animal behavior, can help identify potentially sick animals earlier, so our customers can act before an animal becomes ill. Put simply, when animals are healthy, they are more productive and use less resources, which reduces their impact on the environment.
Finally, as a manufacturer, we know packaging is an important way we can help maintain a healthier environment. To advance sustainable packaging, we have transitioned our products to recycled solutions. We also focus on sustainability in our manufacturing, which can be complex.
By investing in new technologies, we can improve our efficiency and sustainability, too. For example, our novel SPHEREON® vaccine formulation technology uses freeze-dried viral vaccines in small, highly soluble spheres, making it easier and faster to prepare the vaccine. SPHEREON comes in a 100 percent recyclable aluminum container, avoiding unnecessary glass waste.
I’m proud of our company’s efforts and our ambitious sustainability goals. Our efforts to support a better ecosystem for the health of our planet, its people and its animals showcases the impact biopharmaceutical and animal health companies can have in creating a more sustainable future.
Perhaps most importantly, our integrated approach doesn’t just help us do our part, it also gives our customers a way to transform the farming industry. Together, we can help reduce agriculture’s environmental footprint, too.
We are always looking for ways to have a meaningful impact on society. From our products to our technology solutions, we are pioneering ways to create a sustainable future that honors our connected planet and the many animals our farmers, ranchers, producers and pet owners care for daily.
Now, how can you support a sustainable future?