A Conversation with Kenneth C. Frazier, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Merck

Kenneth C. Frazier, chairman and chief executive officer of Merck, sat down with Tony Coles, M.D., chairman and chief executive officer of Yumanity Therapeutics and chairman of Cerevel Therapeutics, at the April 12 meeting of the Boston College Chief Executives Club. Frazier spoke about the pharmaceutical industry’s duty to get people medicines and the balance of cost and innovation, saying, "If you’re going to solve the problem of how people are charged for medicines, you’ve got to look at the entire health care system. We have to create the incentives to bring those costs down without killing the ability of companies to innovate." As chairman and chief executive officer since 2011, Frazier has directed Merck to increase its investment in research and development while focusing efforts to develop lifesaving treatments and vaccines that provide broad benefits to society. With nearly 70,000 global employees and a reported revenue of $42.3 billion, and $7.9 billion spent on research and development in 2018, the company’s research targets significant health challenges—such as cancer, HPV, HIV, antibiotic-resistant infection, and many others.