Purpose 35
which resulted in ‘‘crocodile skin,’’ lesions, and ultimately, blindness.
Whole villages were devastated by this scourge, and often people com-
mitted suicide rather than suffer the disease.
Ironically, the people of these villages were so poor they could not
even afford the small cost of the drug Merck proposed to develop.
Merck typically discontinued research on a drug if it was expected to
earn only $20 million or less in its first year. Here was a drug whose
target market was completely impoverished. Clinical trials were risky
and had many obstacles, both scientific and political. The World Health
Organization refused to fund the trials and, because the affected areas
were so remote, on-site testing was impossible. So Vagelos decided to
develop the drug and give it away to the villagers!
Pharmaceutical companies have become the targets of criticism be-
cause their ‘‘purpose’’ often appears to be making money first and heal-
ing second. Vagelos and Merck made absolutely no profit on their cure
for river blindness. But they established themselves as a company with a
heart and with a purpose. Vagelos explained that Merck had introduced
streptomycin (forsaking profit) into Japan four decades earlier and
helped eliminate tuberculosis in that country and added, ‘‘It’s no acci-
dent that Merck is the largest American pharmaceutical company in
Japan today.’’ Queen Esther qualifies as a Bible hero and a leader be-
cause she saved the future of her own people. Vagelos and Merck stand
out as modern business heroes for saving the lives and futures of people
not their ‘‘own.’’
In the best companies, the purpose continues, even when the leader-
ship changes, as it inevitably must. The Israelites’ basic purpose re-
mained constant even as the leadership passed from Joseph to Moses to
Joshua to David and Solomon. Ray Gilmartin, Vagelos’s successor, has
continued Merck’s sense of purpose. Upon assuming the helm, Gilmar-
tin studied the company’s core values as espoused by George Merck,
the founder and CEO from 1925 to 1950. ‘‘One of the things he said
was, ‘Medicine is for the people and not for profits. If you remember
that, the profits will follow.’ And the more we remember that, the more
profits we have made.’’
Gilmartin has put this purpose into actions, such as pricing an AIDS