Merck & Co. Archives - Medical Design Sourcing

Why Merck shelled out $30B+ on R&D in 2023

In 2023, Merck & Co. made a considerable investment in research and development, spending more than $30 billion. This figure represents more than double the company’s R&D spending ($13.5 billion) in 2022.

The closest competitor in terms of R&D investment was Roche Pharmaceuticals, with a 2023 R&D expenditure of roughly $14.7 billion. This sum is less than half of Merck’s spending. Next in line was Novartis, which spent approximately $13.7 billion on R&D. Next in line was Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine, which spent about $12 billion.

In 2023, Merck’s revenue narrowly eclipsed that of Pfizer, which fell 41.7% from 2022 levels owing largely to collapsing demand for COVID-19 products.

In 2023, Merck invested roughly half of its revenue in R&D.

The chief drivers of Merck’s R&D spending included the following:

Prome…

Are Big Pharma giants getting the right ROI on their R&D investments? A visual exploration

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While annual reports show broadly similar R&D strategies among Merck & Co., Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson and AbbVie, their 2020–2023 financial metrics reveal a concerning trend. Merck & Co. may be the new top dog of Big Pharma, but the firm’s 1.4% revenue growth in 2023 represents a significant slowdown. Pfizer’s 41.7% revenue decline from its COVID-inflated $100.3 billion peak in 2022 is even more stark. Similarly, J&J’s modest 4.2% growth and AbbVie’s 6.4% revenue dip also signal a departure from previous patterns.

In raw numbers, R&D spending in the pharmaceutical industry has surged over the past few decades, jumping from about $30 billion across the industry to more than $200 billion annually by the 2020s. Despite record-breaking R&D spending hitting $161 billion in 2023, marking a nearly 50% increase since 2018, as IQVIA has noted, …

How Accenture and AWS are upgrading Merck’s IT and drug discovery R&D engine

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Historically, the pharma sector has exhibited a degree of caution in adopting emerging technologies such as cloud computing and AI, given the sector’s stringent regulatory requirements, data security concerns, and the complexities involved in integrating new systems into legacy processes.

The situation is beginning to shift considerably with the COVID-19 pandemic, in particular, acting as a catalyst, compelling many Big Pharma companies to accelerate their digital initiatives. Pfizer, Sanofi, Novartis, AstraZeneca, and other Big Pharma companies have unveiled ambitious initiatives tapping cloud computing and AI technologies, aiming to streamline various aspects of drug discovery and development.

Inside the Accenture-AWS-Merck pharma alliance

For instance, Merck in 2021 forged an alliance with Accenture and AWS to update its IT infrastructure and facilitate advanced drug discover…

Merck’s Q3 2023 revenue guidance put it in line with Pfizer’s

Merck & Co. has announced its third quarter results, projectings its full-year 2023 revenue to be in the range of $59.7 billion to $60.2 billion. That’s roughly in line with the guidance from Pfizer, which recently adjusted its revenue forecast from $58 billion to $61 billion.

As Pfizer deals with reduced demand for COVID-19 products, which helped catapult its overall revenue beyond $100 billion in 2022, Merck saw a surprise Q3 lift from Lagevrio (molnupiravir), whose sales were up 47% to $640 million.

Other top sales drivers include the oncology stalwart Keytruda, which generated $6.3 billion in sales, marking a 17% year-over-year increase. Sales for the HPV vaccine Gardasil/Gardasil 9 amounted to $2.6 billion, reflecting a 13% growth.

Merck Q3 2023 revenue remains robust

The figures keep Merck in the upper echelon of Big Pharmas. In 2022, the company was the second largest with $59.3 billion in overall revenue compared to Pfizer’s $100.3 billion…

Sanofi, Merck and Novartis top pharma M&A in recent years

Despite a temporary slowdown during the early days of the pandemic, the pharma sector has witnessed a steady rise in M&A activity over the years. The number of deals climbed from 23 in 2018 to 43 in 2022. Major players driving this trend include Sanofi, Merck & Co. and Novartis. Those three players have made significant acquisitions to bolster core assets and capabilities in specialized areas such as immunology, oncology and gene therapy.

For instance, in 2022, Merck acquired Prometheus Biosciences for $11 billion to strengthen its presence in immunology, while Sanofi purchased Provention Bio for roughly $2.9 billion to add a first-in-class therapy for type 1 diabetes. Novartis has also been on the hunt, with approximately $31 billion in deals since 2018 that have strengthened its Innovative Medicines portfolio.

Bar chart showing the top 10 most active pharmaceutical companies in M&A activity fr…

Exploring Merck’s key arguments in its constitutional challenge against the Inflation Reduction Act

In a strong move against the federal government, Merck & Co., based in Kenilworth, New Jersey, has launched a lawsuit against the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The firm has retained the services of prominent law firm Jones Day, at times known for its assertive litigation style. In recent years, the firm has also been involved in contentious cases, for instance, representing Volkswagen in its emissions scandal and Donald Trump during his presidential campaigns. In Merck’s opening salvo against the government’s prescription drug pricing program under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the company has fired off a strongly-worded complaint. The suit was filed on June 6 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against senior federal healthcare officials and agencies including the Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra, and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

This legal challenge is the latest chapter in Merck’s…

The next wave: 10 promising investigational antihypertensive drugs to watch

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Cardiovascular diseases remain a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. This review highlights ten promising antihypertensive drug candidates with the potential to address pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), resistant hypertension and uncontrolled hypertension.

Aprocitentan, developed by Janssen NYSE:JNJ) and Idorsia (SIX:IDIA), is an experimental oral drug designed to treat resistant hypertension. As a dual endothelin receptor antagonist (ERA), it effectively blocks the binding of ET-1 to both ET A and ET B receptors. The drug has a low likelihood of interacting with other medications and its mechanism of action is well-suited for treating resistant hypertension. In clinical trials, aprocitentan demonstrated better blood pressure reduction than placebo, with the effects lasting up to week 40, and was generally well-tolerated by patients. (Text continues beneath th…

Merck forges Alzheimer’s pact with Cerevance

Merck & Co. (NYSE:MRK) could pay more than $1 billion to the Boston-based biotech startup Cerevance to develop potential drugs for Alzheimer’s disease.

The collaboration will center around Cerevance’s Nuclear Enriched Transcript Sort sequencing (NETSseq) technology platform.

The platform’s origins trace back to research at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

Under the terms of the deal with Merck, Cerevance will license its preclinical Alzheimer’s drug program to Merck.

Merck will now pay Cerevance $25 million and could pay an additional $1.1 billion in milestone-based payments plus potential royalties.

Although there are a handful of FDA-approved drugs for Alzheimer’s, most focus on treating the symptoms rather than the cause of the condition.

One exception is Biogen’s aducanumab, which reduces amyloid deposits in the brain. It is not yet clear, however, if the drug has a cognitive benefit for patients.

Conversely, Cerev…

GSK wins FDA approval for Priorix MMR vaccine

GSK plc (LSE/NYSE:GSK) has announced that the FDA has approved the Priorix measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine for individuals at least 12 months old.

Before the FDA approval, Merck & Co.’s M-M-R II was the only MMR vaccine currently FDA approved in the U.S. Merck also has a FDA-approved measles, mumps, rubella and varicella vaccine known as ProQuad.

Priorix is widely available throughout the world, having been licensed in more than 100 countries. More than 800 million doses have been distributed.

“We’re proud to make Priorix available in the U.S. for the first time, adding a choice for providers to help protect patients against these highly-contagious diseases and to further strengthen offerings in our pediatric vaccine portfolio,” said Judy Stewart, senior vice president and head of U.S. vaccines at GSK, in a news release.

Measles, mumps and rubella are highly contagious diseases.

In the U.S., measles surged in 2019, infecting at…

Moderna names former Merck exec as new chief commercial officer

COVID-19 vaccine developer Moderna (Nasdaq:MRNA) has named Arpa Garay as its chief commercial officer starting May 31, 2022.

Garay worked more than 15 years at Merck & Co. (NYSE:MRK). In February, she was promoted to the post of chief marketing officer for Merck’s human health division. Garay also was a member of the company’s executive committee.

Arpa Garay

At Moderna, Garay will report directly to CEO Stéphane Bancel.

Garay has won several awards. She was named a G100 Next Gen Leader, Fortune named her as one of the “Most powerful Women: Next Gen” while Business Insider India and the Philadelphia Business Journal included her in rankings of leaders under 40.

“I am grateful and excited to work with an inspiring team and build a commercial organization to bring the transformative impact of Moderna’s mRNA science to improve lives around the world across many diseases,̶…

BMJ op-ed calls molnupiravir authorization ‘premature’

Image courtesy of Merck & Co.

A recent editorial in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) criticized the decisions of British and U.S. health regulators to authorize the use of the antiviral molnupiravir, the COVID-19 antiviral.

The developers of the drug, Merck & Co. (NYSE:MRK) and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, had announced that molnupiravir lowered the risk of hospital admissions or death by roughly 50% in the 29 days following infection with COVID-19.

WHO recently updated its treatment guidelines to include the drug for high-risk individuals. The organization based its decision on new data from six randomized controlled studies involving 4,796 patients.

Authorizations of molnupiravir will “inhibit further necessary evaluations” and could divert funding from more effective treatments, argued author James M Brophy, a professor of medicine and epidemiology at McGill University Health Center.<…

Japanese government agrees to buy 1.6 million molnupiravir courses

Image courtesy of Merck & Co.

Merck & Co. (NYSE:MRK) and its partner Ridgeback Biotherapeutics will sell approximately 1.6 million courses of the COVID-19 antiviral molnupiravir (MK-4482, EIDD-2801).

In related news, Thailand announced that it intends to purchase 50,000 courses of the drug while Taiwan plans on obtaining 10,000 courses.

The U.S. plans on purchasing roughly 3.1 million courses of molnupiravir.

The UK authorized the drug last week.

Assuming molnupiravir receives authorization or approval in Japan, Merck stands to gain approximately $1.2 billion to cover the 1.6 million courses. That equates to roughly $750 per course — slightly higher than the going rate in the U.S.

The company has also taken steps to ensure the drug is affordable in developing countries. For example, it is offering tiered pricing based on nations’ economic means and has also granted vol…