Physicians Interactive Becomes Aptus Health, Offering a Global Digital Health Engagement Solution

- READING, Massachusetts, November 18, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Change reflects the company's evolution to a strategic partner, delivering data-driven digital and mobile health engagement campaigns that empower better decisions and drivebusiness results     Physicians Interactive today announced that it has become Aptus Health, reflecting its mission of advancing health engagement and its role as a global digital heath engagement partner for life sciences companies, payers, employers, and health systems.      (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151117/288311LOGO ) (Video: https://youtu.be/JH7ztEBmBK8) The change comes as the company extends into new markets and expands its offerings to address a growing need for integrated digital health engagement strategies aimed at both healthcare professionals and consumers.   "Over the years, we've evolved our capabilities to help our clients achieve a wide range of digital health engagement goals across a wide range of populations-the name Physicians Interactive no longer tells the whole story," said Joseph Caso, Chief Executive Officer at Aptus Health. "Our industry is facing increasing complexity, with commercial models, payment models, and care delivery models all experiencing a transformation. These changes demand that companies re-evaluate how they engage their target healthcare professionals and consumers to achieve their respective business objectives. With the international talent and expertise we've developed in-house, Aptus Health is the partner to guide them." From strategy to execution, the company offers an end-to-end solution for engaging both healthcare professionals and consumers in personalized, relevant digital content. Its clients have access to the world's largest healthcare professional community, Univadis, as well as to leading healthcare consumer communities and mobile apps through its MedHelp division. The company's analytics capabilities bring a data-driven understanding of how to optimize digital and mobile channels to engage targets and drive change. "Aptus Health is not just a new name - it's a new way of supporting our clients with the depth of knowledge, breadth of vision, and proven solutions needed to transform current models and take health engagement forward," said Brian Robinson, Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer at Aptus Health. "With our decades of collective intelligence in health engagement and our digital and mobile channel expertise, we are uniquely positioned to serve as a global partner to our clients- offering insight-driven design, development, and deployment of innovative digital solutions that empower people to make better decisions and drive our clients' business results." Visit http://www.aptushealth.com for more information, and follow the company on Twitter and LinkedIn. About Aptus Health   Aptus Health is advancing health engagement to transform healthcare models. With unmatched expertise in healthcare and personalized behavior, we offer life science companies, payers, and providers a single partnership from insight to outcome. Our end-to-end solutions span all areas of planning and execution including strategy, solution design, customer segmenting, advertising, and actionable analytics-all proven to effectively reach and engage a global audience and inspire positive behavior change. Aptus Health is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, New Jersey, U.S.A. (known outside the U.S. and Canada as MSD) ("MSD"), with its own independent employees, editorial process, business and financial operations, and governance. Aptus Health maintains its information independent from MSD and maintains confidentiality of its customers' information from MSD. More information can be found at http://www.AptusHealth.com. About Merck  Today's Merck is a global health care leader working to help the world be well. Merck is known as MSD outside the United States and Canada. Through our prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies and animal health products, we work with customers and operate in more than 140 countries to deliver innovative health solutions. We also demonstrate our commitment to increasing access to health care through far-reaching policies, programs and partnerships. For more information, visit http://www.merck.com and connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn. Forward-Looking Statement of Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, N.J., USA  This news release of Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, N.J., USA (the "company") includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based upon the current beliefs and expectations of the company's management and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. If underlying assumptions prove inaccurate or risks or uncertainties materialize, actual results may differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. Risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to, general industry conditions and competition; general economic factors, including interest rate and currency exchange rate fluctuations; the impact of pharmaceutical industry regulation and health care legislation in the United States and internationally; global trends toward health care cost containment; technological advances, new products and patents attained by competitors; challenges inherent in new product development, including obtaining regulatory approval; the company's ability to accurately predict future market conditions; manufacturing difficulties or delays; financial instability of international economies and sovereign risk; dependence on the effectiveness of the company's patents and other protections for innovative products; and the exposure to litigation, including patent litigation, and/or regulatory actions. The company undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Additional factors that could cause results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements can be found in the company's 2014 Annual Report on Form 10-K and the company's other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) available at the SEC's Internet site (http://www.sec.gov). Media Contact:  Jonathan Gwillim | Snr. Director, International Marketing Aptus Health  c: +44-(0)7766-107219 e: [email protected]: jon.gwillim a: 8th Floor, Elizabeth House, 39 York Rd, London, SE1 7NQ