DAVID D. JONES IS APPOINTED AS PRESIDENT AND MANAGING DIRECTOR OF MERCK CANADA

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KIRKLAND, QC, August 30, 2024 – Merck Canada is pleased to announce the appointment of David D. Jones as President and Managing Director, effective September 1^st, 2024. Mr. Jones is succeeding Marwan A. Akar, who has held the position since June 2021.

Mr. Akar has been appointed to a position within Merck’s global organization. The Merck Canada team sincerely thanks him for his commitment to patients and focus on excellence. During his time in Canada, Mr. Akar successfully led the Canadian organization through post-COVID recovery and was instrumental in developing a dynamic, inclusive and highly collaborative work culture.

Prior to his appointment at Merck Canada, Mr. Jones was Vice President and Executive Officer, Primary Care, Specialty Medicines, Vaccines and Rare Disease for MSD Japan. Throughout his career at Merck, he held multiple U.S. and Global commercial leadership roles across Vaccines, Respiratory, Cardiovascular, Rare Diseases and Anti-Infective therapeutic areas, in addition to leading work to improve patient and business outcomes around the world through data and advanced analytics.

Mr. Jones holds an M.B.A. from the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland and a Bachelor of Science from the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC). He is a graduate of the Merck/Harvard Business School Enterprise Leadership Program, the Executive Leadership Council’s Strengthening the Pipeline program, the McKinsey Black Executive Leadership Program, and was named to the Philadelphia Business Journal’s 40 under 40 Leaders in 2019.

About Merck Canada

At Merck, known as MSD outside of the United States and Canada, we are unified around our purpose: We use the power of leading-edge science to save and improve lives around the world. For more than 130 years, we have brought hope to humanity through the development of important medicines and vaccines. We aspire to be the premier research-intensive biopharmaceutical company in the world – and today, we are at the forefront of research to deliver innovative health solutions that advance the prevention and treatment of diseases in people and animals. We foster a diverse and inclusive global workforce and operate responsibly every day to enable a safe, sustainable and healthy future for all people and communities.

In Canada, Merck markets a broad range of vaccines, pharmaceutical and animal health products and is one of the top R&D investors in Canada, with investments totaling more than $90 million in 2022 and more than $1.6 billion since 2000. Based in Kirkland, Quebec, Merck employs approximately 635 people across the country. For more information about our operations in Canada, visit www.merck.ca and connect with us on LinkedIn and X @MerckCanada.