Exterior view of the entrance to Merck’s headquarters in Rahway, New Jersey, on February 5, 2024.
Spencer Pratt | Getty Images
Merck Second-quarter revenue and adjusted earnings reported Tuesday beat Wall Street expectations on strong sales of its blockbuster cancer drug Keytruda and other treatments in its oncology and vaccine portfolio, as well as a newly launched cardiovascular drug.
The pharmaceutical giant also raised its full-year sales forecast to $63.4 billion to $64.4 billion due to increased demand for key products, especially oncology treatments. That’s only slightly higher than the $63.1 billion to $64.3 billion guidance the company provided in April.
Merck lowered its adjusted profit guidance to a range of $7.94 to $8.04 per share from the previous range of $8.53 to $8.65 per share. The updated outlook reflects one-time charges of 26 cents and 51 cents per share on the company’s acquisition harpoon therapy and eye creatureMerck said separately.
The company’s shares fell nearly 2.8% in premarket trading.
This is Merck’s report second season Compared to Wall Street expectations, according to a survey of analysts by LSEG:
- Earnings per share: Adjusted $2.28, expected $2.15
- income: US$16.11 billion, expected US$15.84 billion
The drugmaker reported second-quarter net profit of $5.46 billion, or $2.14 per share. That compares with a net loss of $5.98 billion, or $2.35 per share, in the year-earlier period, which included charges related to the acquisition of Prometheus Biosciences.
Excluding acquisition and restructuring costs, the company earned $2.28 per share in the three months.
Merck reported revenue of $16.11 billion in the quarter, a 7% increase from the same period last year.
The results come as Merck prepares to offset losses from Keytruda’s patent expiration in 2028 with several new deals and the launch of key drugs.
These include Winrevair, a drug approved in the United States in March to treat progressive and life-threatening lung disease. Some analysts predict that Winrevair’s global sales could reach $5 billion by 2030.
it also includes capasivira type of product designed to protect adults from a known bacterium As a pneumococcus, it can cause serious illness and lung infections. The vaccine was approved in the United States last month.
Highest estimate of drug unit sales
Merck’s pharmaceutical unit revenue in the second quarter was US$14.41 billion, an increase of 7% over the same period last year. This division develops a wide range of medicines for various disease areas.
The company’s immunotherapy Keytruda generated revenue of $7.27 billion in the quarter, a 16% increase from the same period last year. Analysts had expected Keytruda sales of $7.12 billion, according to StreetAccount estimates.
Sales of Gardasil, a vaccine that protects against cancer from HPV, the most common sexually transmitted disease in the United States, are almost flat.
Gardasil sales were $2.48 billion, up just 1% from the second quarter of 2023. thereby stunting growth.
The unit’s results were slightly below analysts’ expectations of $2.51 billion, according to StreetAccount.
Winrevair reported second-quarter revenue of $70 million after receiving approval in March. Analysts had expected sales of the therapy to reach $59.4 million.
Meanwhile, sales of the company’s type 2 diabetes treatment drug Januvia were $629 million, down 27% from the same period last year. Merck said the sales decline was primarily due to lower demand and prices for the drug, as well as generic competition in several countries.
Januvia is one of 10 drugs targeted in ongoing Medicare drug price negotiations, a policy aimed at making expensive drugs more affordable for seniors. These price negotiations are an important provision of the President’s Joe Biden’s inflation-cutting bill ends in early August.
Sales of Merck’s Covid antiviral drug Lagevrio also fell 46% to $110 million. That still beat analysts’ expectations for sales of $81.5 million, according to StreetAccount.
Merck’s animal health unit, which develops vaccines and drugs for dogs, cats and cattle, had second-quarter sales of $1.48 billion. That was up 2% from a year earlier and slightly below expectations of analysts polled by StreetAccount.
About The Author
