"The Merck Druggernaut offers the intriguing inside story of a pharmaceutical giant - from where it has been and where it is, to where it might be going. Through interviews with individuals who work and have worked at Merck, as well as those outside the company, healthcare and business journalist Fran Hawthorne weaves an engaging tale of two Mercks.". "On the one hand, you'll watch as a company, beloved by investors and headed by such legendary leaders as George W. Merck and P. Roy Vagelos, discovers a treatment for river blindness in Africa and hands out the drug for free. You'll also learn how Merck developed groundbreaking medications for diseases that previously had no effective products - Mevacor and Zocor for cholesterol as well as Crixivan for AIDS. On the other hand, you'll witness a company whose struggle to produce great new drugs coincides with a sharp decline in its stock price as well as profits. You'll also get an up-close and personal look at how doctors, insurance companies, generic drug makers, and politicians are confronting Merck, as well as the rest of the pharmaceutical industry."--BOOK JACKET.