Merck & Co. (NYSE: MRK), like its pharmaceutical competitors, has seen better days. A raft of patent protection expirations, bad PR, concerns over health risks for many of its drugs, and a lack of pipeline products, have all combined to stomp on one of the largest pharmaceutical firms in the world. Is the future brighter? Possibly, but there's a lot of risk to go with it.Merck says that it will continue to develop experimental drugs for cholesterol and obesity [subscription required]. Nothing new there, as those two health conditions are increasing in numbers in the U.S. (obesity in particular). But Merck will be developing new drugs in these areas where the competition has miserably failed in the recent past due to safety problems.