Merck & Co., Inc.

Thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Merck and Company, Inc., Broadway, New Jersey, USA, first quarter sales and earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode until the question and answer session of today's conference. At that time, to ask a question, press star 1 on your phone and record your name at the prompt. This call is being recorded. If you have any objections, you may disconnect at this time. I would now like to turn the call over to Mr. Peter Dannenbaum. Senior Vice President, Investor Relations. Sir, you may begin.

Thank you, Julie, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to the first quarter 2026 conference call for Merck and Company Incorporated, Rodway, New Jersey, USA. Speaking on today's call will be Rob Davis, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Caroline Litchfield, Chief Financial Officer, and Dr. Dean Lee, President of Research Labs. Before we get started, I'd like to point out that we have items in our GAAP results, such as acquisition-related charges, restructuring costs, and certain other items that we have excluded from our non-GAAP results. There is a reconciliation in our press release. I will also remind you that some of the statements that we make today may be considered forward-looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provision of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements are made based on the current beliefs of our company's management and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. If our underlying assumptions prove inaccurate or uncertainties materialize, actual results may differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. Our FCC filings, including Item 1A and the 2025 10-K, identify certain risk factors in cautionary statements that could cause the company's actual results to differ materially from those projected in any of our forward-looking statements made this morning. American Company Incorporated, Raleigh, New Jersey, USA, undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements. During today's call, a slide presentation will accompany our speaker's prepared remarks. These slides, along with the earnings release, today's prepared remarks, and our FTC filings are all posted to the investor relations section of our company's website. With that, I'd like to turn the call over to Rob.

Thank you, Peter. Good morning, and thank you for joining today's call. Advancing and delivering breakthrough science to address unmet medical needs remains the foundation of our strategy to create sustainable value for patients and shareholders.