On Thursday, Merck & Co. (MRK.N) announced better-than-expected third-quarter earnings due to unexpectedly robust demand, mostly in Japan, for its COVID-19 treatment. The company also increased its COVID-19 therapy’s annual sales projection.
LSEG figures show that sales of the COVID-19 antiviral tablet molnupiravir, marketed under the brand name Lagevrio, soared 47% to $640 million during the quarter, above Wall Street projections of $120 million.
With limited therapeutic choices, molinupiravir was first heralded as a possible breakthrough. However, Paxlovid, a competing medication from Pfizer (PFE.N), quickly overshadowed it due to its more spectacular evidence.
In the US, Paxlovid is the most popular out-of-hospital COVID therapy; nevertheless, the European Medicines Agency advised against using Merck’s medication. However, Merck has previously said that the medication had led the market in Japan.
Merck increased the $1.3 billion full-year sales estimate for Lagevrio.
Keytruda, Merck’s best-selling cancer treatment, generated $6.34 billion in sales in the third quarter, above analysts’ average forecast of $6.22 billion.
Sales of Gardasil, the company’s vaccine to prevent human papillomavirus (HPV)-related malignancies, increased 13% to $2.59 billion but fell short of analysts’ average forecast of $2.69 billion.
“Strength in Gardasil is also needed, as investors have come to expect a beat and raise on Keytruda,” Wells Fargo analyst Mohit Bansal stated in a report, noting that investors appear to be anticipating more sales growth from the vaccination.
Merck’s stock rose by about 1% during erratic premarket trading. The business raised its estimated $58.6 billion to $59.6 billion to $59.7 billion to $60.2 billion for 2023 revenues.
In the reporting quarter, the company’s revenues came in at $15.96 billion, as opposed to the average analyst forecast of $15.3 billion.
The American pharmaceutical company exceeded analyst projections of $1.95 per share with an adjusted profit of $2.13.
