Merck Sharp & Dohme Signs Partnership with BMJ Group

The pharmaceutical company MSD (known as Merck Sharp & Dohme Limited in the UK and Merck & Co., Inc. in the US) and BMJ (British Medical Journal) Group today announced a partnership in medical education through which BMJ Learning will be made available to physicians through MSD’s medical portal univadis®. This unique partnership will change the face of medical education in Europe and beyond, allowing users access to most of BMJ Learning’s library of ‘Continuing Medical Education’ (CME) and ‘Continuing Professional Development’ (CPD) content. The agreement between MSD and BMJ Group comprises about 350 interactive learning courses in over 20 medical therapy areas. The partnership will allow physicians to combine online CME/CPD and offline learning.

univadis® {www.univadis.com}, one of the leading medical Internet services in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Canada with more than half a million registered physicians, is a pioneer in medical education, meeting the need for high-quality accredited education for physicians, enabling them to better manage their patients and their outcomes. In addition to the educational offer, univadis® provides a number of tailored medical information sources based on continuous needs assessment of healthcare professionals. univadis® will start to cover a growing number of combined online and offline training programmes, making medical education more effective.

BMJ Learning is one of the world’s largest and most trusted independent online learning and course providers for medical professionals. BMJ Group is dedicated to the expansion of BMJ Learning with new peer-reviewed and evidence-based courses launching every week.

This partnership with univadis® will play a crucial role in opening the gateway for physicians into BMJ Learning. “BMJ Learning is already used by 82,000 doctors in the UK and this partnership will enable doctors in many different countries to benefit from BMJ Group’s expertise in medical education,” says Michael Chamberlain, Chairman of BMJ Group.

Dr. Ottfried Zierenberg, Regional Medical Director Europe, Middle East, Africa & Canada of MSD, commented "We chose to work with the BMJ Group because they are one of the most respected medical courses providers, making them a perfect partner for us. This collaboration intends to ultimately increase the health outcome for patients. Additionally, it strengthens the position of univadis® as a trusted, professional and comprehensive news, information and educational resource for the medical community”.

BMJ Learning online courses will be available on univadis® in English language in English speaking countries, i.e. UK and Ireland, as well as in Scandinavian countries beginning June 2008. Other countries, like Germany, will follow within 2008 once the translation process is finished.

Contact details MSD RBSC GMBH BMJ Group Andreas Marmsoler Rachel Davies Richard-Reitzner-Allee 1 BMA House, Tavistock Square 85540 Haar, Germany London WC1H 9JR, UK Tel: +49-89-45 66 55 133 Tel: +44-20-7383 6529

E-Mail: andreas_marmsoler@msd.com E-Mail: rdavies@bma.org.uk