Moody's: Merck outlook developing

Moody's Investors Service said it changed Merck & Co., Inc.'s outlook to developing from negative and affirmed its Aa3 senior unsecured issuer rating, notes, medium-term notes, debentures and industrial revenue bonds and its Prime-1 short-term debt rating for commercial paper.

The outlook change follows the announcement that Merck has entered into an agreement with law firms that could resolve a large proportion of Merck's outstanding Vioxx product liability lawsuits in the United States. The agreement stipulates that if certain participation conditions are met, Merck will pay a fixed amount of $4.85 billion into a settlement fund.

The agency said that if the conditions to the Vioxx agreement are met and Merck's payment obligation is triggered, Merck's credit profile would significantly stabilize and the outlook would be revised to stable.

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