Statement by Belén Garijo, Chair of the Executive Board and CEO of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, on behalf of the Executive Board:

“To us, it is unbearable to witness what is happening in Ukraine. We condemn the Russian invasion as well as any act of violence. We stand with the global community in calling on the Russian state to end this war immediately and return to a peaceful coexistence in the region.

As a company, we have a moral obligation: We are set on advancing human progress and as such, the health and well-being of people is always at the center of what we do. Yet, we also hear the demand to immediately stop our business with and in Russia. Rest assured that we understand the motivation behind these calls. At the same time, in Russia as elsewhere in the world, we deliver personalized treatments for serious and life-threatening diseases. Ending our activities there means abandoning our patients. This we cannot do.

That is why we have restricted our transactions in Russia to essential healthcare-related business in order to continue serving patients in need.

We will make sure we strictly comply with all international sanctions and reassess our current position on an ongoing basis to integrate potential new developments and/or new sanctions.

To support humanitarian aid in Ukraine, our company has in total donated more than 4 million euros, with more than half a million euros coming from colleagues from all around the world. The majority was donated to the German Red Cross.”

• To support humanitarian aid in Ukraine, Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany has in total donated more than 4 million euros. More than half a million euros came from our colleagues from all around the world. The majority was donated to the German Red Cross.
• Two trucks delivered more than 40 tons of relief supplies in form of food, first-aid equipment, hygiene articles and other urgently needed daily necessities from Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany to Wroclaw in Poland to support refugees there. Here, too, our employees made a big contribution through their donations.
• In June, we donated a six-month supply of our medicines Euthyrox^® (for the treatment of thyroid disorders) and Erbitux^® (for the treatment of colorectal cancer and head & neck cancer) to Ukraine.
• More than 160,000 euros were collected in cash and in-kind donations from European subsidiaries, including drug donations of bisoprolol, Levothyrox and Tricef.
• Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany also donated more than 20,000 liters of disinfectant.
• Financial support for the university entrance test for Ukrainian refugees at the Goethe University Frankfurt. The tests are required to start or continue studying in Ukraine.
• We have joined an EFPIA initiative which allows patients to access information about our prescription drugs in Ukrainian.
  
• In Latin America, Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany is partnering with ALAMI (Asociación Latinoamericana de los Sistemas Privados de Salud) to provide telemedicine services for Ukrainian refugees. These services are free, available via any smartphone and include remote medical consultations, psychological counselling, and access to remote clinical data. They are provided in Ukrainian, Portuguese, Spanish and English. The pilot phase of the platform launched in October 2022 within Argentina, Mexico, Dominican Republic and Colombia.