The 3R principle applies internationally as the guiding principle for all animal testing. By using methods to replace animal experiments (replacement), reduce the required number of tests and animals (reduction), and improve the test methods (refinement), the number of laboratory animals used as well the stress placed on them before, during and after testing are to be kept to an absolute minimum.

The Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care International is a private, nonprofit organization that promotes the humane treatment of animals in science through voluntary accreditation and assessment programs.

Access to Medicine

An audit is a process performed by a trained auditor to investigate things such as management systems.

The term is used to describe the diversity of ecosystems, habitats and landscapes on earth, the diversity of the species, and the genetic diversity within a biological species or population.

Biosimilars are officially approved subsequent versions of innovator biopharmaceutical products made by a different sponsor after the original product's patent or exclusivity expires. Based on guidance from the EMA (European Medicines Agency), biosimilars must demonstrate comparability, or biosimilarity, to an existing approved product.

The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) is an independent not-for-profit organization that works on behalf of investors to motivate companies to transparently report their greenhouse gas emissions and water consumption.

Chromatography is a technique used to separate mixtures.

The Center for Information and Study on Clinical Research Participation (CISCRP) is an independent non-profit organization dedicated to educating and informing the public and patients about clinical research. CISCRP also provides information and resources to help research and health professionals better serve their patients and study volunteers.

The European CLP regulation (Classification, Labelling and Packaging of Substances and Mixtures) is based on the Globally Harmonized System (GHS) of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals.

CO₂ equivalent: This indicates how much a specified quantity of a specific greenhouse gas has contributed to the greenhouse effect and uses the global warming potential of carbon dioxide as a reference.

This term means adherence to laws and regulations as well as to voluntary codices that are internal to the company. Compliance is a component of diligent corporate governance.

The term describes the development of a population, such as the change in the age structure. In Germany, Switzerland, several other EU countries, and the United States, the average age of the population is on the rise.

Dual-use products are goods that are normally used for civilian purposes, but that may also have military applications.

Due diligence means a risk analysis exercised with particular care that is done in preparation for a business transaction.

Earnings before interest and taxes on income. Equals the operating result.

ECETOC is the leading European scientific forum for the ecotoxicology and toxicology of chemicals, biomaterials and pharmaceuticals. ECETOC's work focuses on the health assessment and environmental safety of substances. ECETOC's Targeted Risk Assessment (TRA) tool calculates the risk of exposure from chemicals to workers, consumers and the environment.

Ecotoxicology focuses on the effects of substances on the ecosystem.

Company-wide program that consolidates the company's climate protection activities.

The European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) is a European umbrella organization representing individual pharmaceutical companies as well as national associations of research-based pharmaceutical companies.

Environment, Health and Safety: This abbreviation describes environmental management, health protection and occupational safety throughout the company.

Environment Health Safety Security Quality: A Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany function

Essential medicines as defined by the World Health Organization are "those drugs that satisfy the health care needs of the majority of the population".

Eutrophicating substances cause an overabundance of nutrients in the ecosystem.

Food and Drug Administration: U.S. government agency responsible for protecting and advancing public health, especially as concerns food and drugs.

Clinical trials to test medical procedures or substances on human subjects for the first time.

Also known as Millennials, this is the generation born between 1980 and 2000. The letter "Y" ("why?") refers to a fundamental characteristic evinced by this demographic cohort: to challenge tradition while seeking flexibility, freedom and self-actualization.

The Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol is the most widely used accounting and reporting system for greenhouse gas emissions.

Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals: An international standard system to classify chemicals that covers labeling as well as safety data sheets.

The Global Compact is an initiative set by the United Nations in 2003. Its signatories commit themselves to ten principles based on key UN conventions on human rights, labor standards, environmental protection, and anti-corruption.

The company uses the Global Grading System from Towers Watson to value positions. The system has a total of 23 different global grades available to grade all positions, thus aligning jobs across the company and providing a basis of comparison.

The Global Product Strategy is an initiative of the International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA) through which participating companies of the chemical industry make a commitment to comprehensive product responsibility.

The GRI is a global network of stakeholders and experts that has created guidelines for producing sustainability reports with the aim of achieving comparability among these reports. The GRI G4 standard is the fourth generation of the guidelines. Apart from information on planning, content and quality of reporting, it contains a list of the required data on management approach and indicators that are to be communicated as part of sustainability reporting.

Good Manufacturing Practices are rules and procedures that help ensure that pharmaceuticals are of the required quality. GMPs pertain to the methods, facilities and control processes utilized for manufacturing, processing, packaging, and/or storing pharmaceuticals.

Good Clinical Practices (GCP) are rules and procedures for clinical drug trials involving human subjects.

The Global Pharma Health Fund e.V. is a charitable organization funded by Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany. The organization's goal is to promote health care within the scope of development assistance, especially with respect to the fight against counterfeit medicines through the use of the GPHF-Minilab^TM.

Greenhouse gases are gases in the atmosphere that contribute to global warming. Greenhouse gases can be either naturally occurring or caused by humans (such as CO₂ emissions caused by burning fossil fuels).

HazCom 2012 refers to a U.S. OSHA standard pertaining to the safe handling of chemicals in the workplace, with an emphasis on occupational safety and environmental protection. This standard requires manufacturers and distributors to provide information on the hazards posed by a product as well as ways to minimize risks.

The aim of the "International Conference on Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Registration of Pharmaceuticals for Human Use" (ICH) is to promote uniform assessment criteria for product registration in Europe, the United States and Japan. The ICH makes recommendations toward achieving greater harmonization in the interpretation and application of technical guidelines and requirements for pharmaceutical product registration. This includes, for instance, Good Clinical Practice (GCP) guidelines for clinical trials of pharmaceuticals and Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) guidelines for flawless manufacturing.

The International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations (IFPMA) is the global umbrella organization for research-based pharmaceutical companies as well as pharmaceutical associations.

In vitro refers to procedures involving components of an organism that have been isolated from their usual biological surroundings (e.g. test tube experiments).

In chemistry, the term inert ("inactive" in Latin) is used to define substances that are not chemically reactive, or that react only minimally to other chemicals.

The ILO is a United Nations agency dealing with labor issues, in particular the formulation and implementation of international labor and social standards, especially the core ILO labor standards. The agency's work focuses on an inclusive, democratically governed globalization process and the creation of decent employment opportunities as a fundamental prerequisite for prosperity.

A federation of research-based pharmaceutical companies in Switzerland.

International Police Organization.

Interventional studies are "investigations conducted on humans with the purpose of researching or proving the clinical or pharmacological effects of medicines, or of determining their side effects, or of investigating their absorption, distribution, metabolism, or excretion, in order to discern the safety and/or efficacy of the drug". (German Federal Drug Law (AGM), section 4, para. 23).

Short for "International Standard for Assurance Engagements other than Audits or Reviews of Historical Financial Information", the ISAE 3000 is published by the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) and is currently the far most internationally applied corporate responsibility standard.

This international environmental management standard sets globally recognized requirements for an environmental management system.

This international standard defines globally recognized requirements for energy management systems.

International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Least Developed Countries (LDC) are countries that, according to the United Nations, exhibit the lowest indicators of socioeconomic development.

A life cycle assessment (also known as ecobalance) is a systematic analysis of the environmental impact of products throughout their entire life cycle.

These specialty chemicals are used in LC displays (LCDs), such as those used in flat-screen televisions, notebooks, mobile telephones, etc.

Lost time injury rate: indicator for workplace safety. The number of workplace accidents with one or more days of lost time per million hours worked.

Our values are: Courage, Achievement, Responsibility, Respect, Integrity, and Transparency.

A substance that changes the DNA of an organism.

Neglected tropical diseases (NTD) are conditions that occur primarily in developing countries. NTDs include schistosomiasis, intestinal worms, trachoma, lymphatic filariasis, and onchocerciasis. This group of diseases is called "neglected" because, despite the large number of people affected, they have historically received less attention and research funding than other diseases.

Non-governmental organization

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are non-infectious and not passed from person to person. They can refer to chronic diseases, which are of long duration and mostly slow progression. Other NCDs may, however, also result in rapid death. The four main types are cardiovascular diseases, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases, and diabetes.

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, headquartered in Paris, is a forum of 34 countries committed to the principles of democracy and market economy.

The Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series (OHSAS) is an international occupational health and safety management system.

Organic light-emitting diodes, a new technology for displays and lighting used in applications such as mobile phones, MP3 players, and now also in televisions and lamps.

The Organizational Health Index was developed by the consultant firm McKinsey. It measures and tracks a company's health by using pre-defined parameters to benchmark the company against peers in the same industry, of the same size, orientation, etc. One component of the process is an employee survey on the organization's performance capacity.

PFOS is the abbreviation for perfluorooctanesulfonic acid.

Pharmacogenomics is the study of how genes affect a person's response to drugs. It deals with the influence of genetic variation on drug response in patients and aims to optimize drug therapy with respect to the patient's genotype, thereby ensuring maximum efficacy with minimal adverse effects.

Pharmacovigilance is the continual, systematic monitoring of a drug's safety.

This stands for "predicted no effect concentration" and represents the concentration below which the substance is not expected to adversely impact the environment.

A product carbon footprint quantifies the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions that a product causes throughout its entire life cycle, making transparent the extent to which a product adversely affects the climate.

Abbreviation for polymer-stabilized vertical alignment: A polymer layer pre-aligns the molecules inside the display in a certain direction. In the black state, the liquid crystals are not exactly vertical, but slightly tilted, which allows the liquid crystals to switch more quickly. The light transmittance of the display is significantly higher, thus reducing the backlighting, one of the most costly components to produce.

A public-private partnership is a collaboration between public sector (government) organizations, private companies and/or non-profit organizations.

Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals: This is an EU regulation that entered into force in mid-2007 in order to further improve chemical safety.

Restriction of Hazardous Substances: This EU directive, which was adopted in 2002, serves to limit the use of certain hazardous materials, such as lead and cadmium, in the manufacture of various types of electrical and electronic equipment in the European Union.

Schistosomiasis is a parasitic disease that is spread in warm lakes and ponds by snails that serve as intermediate hosts.

This term stands for all necessary measures and Governance activities to detect, analyze, handle, and mitigate security- and crime-based threats to the company. This helps to protect employees as well as the tangible and intangible assets of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany.

Stakeholders are people or organizations that have a legitimate interest in a company, entitling them to make justified demands. Stakeholders include people such as employees, business partners, neighbors in the vicinity of our sites, and shareholders.

Stem cells are undifferentiated cells with the potential to develop into many different cell types that carry out different functions.

The Sunshine Provisions of the U.S. Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act aim to create more transparent relationships between manufacturers of drugs, medical devices and medical aids on the one hand, and doctors and teaching hospitals on the other.

Sum of sales as well as royalty, license and commission income. Royalties are earned primarily through patents held by the biopharmaceuticals business.

The UK Bribery Act is an anti-corruption law in the United Kingdom. It applies not only to UK companies, but also to all companies that do business in the United Kingdom in any way.

The German Chemical Industry Association (Verband der Chemischen Industrie) represents the economic policy interests of 1,600 German chemical companies.

The German Association of Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies (Verband der forschenden Pharma-Unternehmen) represents the interests of 44 international research-based companies and over 100 subsidiaries in health care, research and economic policy.

Volatile Organic Compounds: A collective term for organic chemical compounds that evaporate readily and are gaseous even at low temperatures.

The World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations. WHO is the directing and coordinating authority for public health within the United Nations system.