Latest News by Industry
• Merck reported better-than-expected fourth quarter results
• Merck posted a $3.82 billion profit in the fourth quarter
Merck (NYSE: MRK) reported better-than-expected fourth quarter results on Thursday as it sold $952 million of its Covid-19 treatment pill molnupiravir and expects to sell $5 billion to $6 billion more this year.
The main market of the company is concentrated in the U.S., the U.K. and Japan. Merck had sold 1.4 million courses to the U.S since the Food and Drug Administration authorized the pill in December.
“We’ve shown that molnupiravir works against omicron, which is important against that variant,” CEO Rob Davis told CNBC.
“And obviously we’ll have to see how this plays out and what is the initial uptake but right now we feel we’re off to a good start,” he said.
Davis said Merck will ship 4 million courses to 25 countries worldwide soon.
Merck posted a $3.82 billion profit in the fourth quarter, compared to a loss of $2.62 billion in the same period last year.
Revenue of the company increased 24% in the quarter to $13.52 billion accountable to the sale of its HPV vaccine Gardasil that prevents cervical cancer and its treatment Keytruda that fights melanoma, lung cancer and hodgkin’s lymphoma.
Molnupiravir impact
Molnupiravir reduced the risk of hospitalization or death in Covid patients by 30%, according to clinical trials.
“Despite the fact that we are starting to see at least in the United States, the wave of omicron is still moving its path through, we’re still facing over 2,000 deaths due to the Covid-19 a day,” Davis said. “The fact that molnupiravir does reduce the risk of death by 90%, we could have a meaningful impact in helping patients,” he said.
Picture Credits: WSJ