Michael J. Holston has been appointed chief ethics and compliance officer at Merck, effective June 25, 2012. Mr. Holston will report to Kenneth C. Frazier, Merck’s chairman and chief executive officer, and will serve on the company’s executive committee. He will be responsible for driving high ethical standards and compliance across the company’s business globally. He succeeds Richard S. Bowles, who has decided to retire after more than 35 years with Merck and the former Schering-Plough.

Most recently, Mr. Holston served as executive vice president and general counsel for Hewlett-Packard Co., where he oversaw compliance, government affairs, privacy, ethics operations and legal affairs. Prior to this, he was a partner in the litigation practice at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, where he served as external counsel to Merck for product litigation, government investigations and compliance with healthcare laws and regulations.

“Ethical business practices and good corporate governance are important to us and our stakeholders, and we are committed to adhering to the laws and regulations governing our activities worldwide,” said Mr. Frazier. “We are delighted to welcome Mike as our new chief ethics and compliance officer. His extensive experience managing compliance with healthcare laws across international businesses and his background with Merck and our industry make Mike a terrific leader for our ethics and compliance organization and a member of our Executive Committee.

“I also want to thank Rick Bowles for nearly four decades of dedicated service to Merck and Schering-Plough. His strong leadership established the global compliance organization for the combined new company following the merger with Schering-Plough. He developed the right structure, capabilities and leadership for the function, creating a solid base upon which Mike can continue to build a world class ethics and compliance organization going forward.”