Core products boost Merck’s results
pharmafile | October 31, 2011 | News story | Medical Communications, Sales and Marketing | Gardasil, Merck, Victrelis
Sales of core products and favourable exchange rates have helped Merck grow its revenue in a tough environment.
Worldwide sales were $12 billion for the third quarter, an increase of 8% compared with last year.
Favourable foreign exchange rates were responsible for about 5% of this growth, but key products also performed well.
Merck’s sales were boosted primarily by sales of its blockbuster diabetes drug Januvia, which was up a staggering 41% to $846 million for the quarter.
Sales of its HPV vaccine Gardasil were also up by 41% as the firm rolled out the treatment in Japan, the world’s second biggest pharma market.
Global sales for its inflammatory drugs Remicade and Simponi declined 8% in the quarter after Merck transferred marketing rights for both drugs to Johnson & Johnson in certain countries earlier this year.
This quarter has been tough for all pharma firms as the industry deals with health reform in the US and austerity measures in Europe, but Merck’s core products and relatively few patent expiries have helped the firm achieve solid growth.
Merck loses battle of the hep C drugs
But it was not all good news for the firm as sales of its potential blockbuster hep C drug Victrelis were poor at just $31 million for the quarter.
This is compared to its rival product Incivek, made by J&J and Vertex, which saw sales of $420 million in the same time period, after both being approved in May by the FDA.
Analysts were unimpressed with the Victrelis, but were positively enthused about J&J’s drug which could reach blockbuster status in less than a year if it keeps up its sales trajectory.
One analyst from the ISI Group, Mark Schoenebaum, told Reuters in no uncertain terms: “It looks like it’s the best launch of all time in the history of biotech and pharma.”
Merck will have to up its game if it is to have any hope of keeping up with the Incivek juggernaut.
Ben Adams
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