Merck & Co. Inc.’s third- quarter revenue growth of 15% was driven largely by its cancer and vaccine portfolios, as Keytruda (pembrolizumab) notched worldwide sales of nearly $3.1bn, good for 62% growth year-over-year. The pharma told its quarterly earnings call on 29 October that it expects Keytruda to maintain its strong market-share hold in lung cancer despite positive readouts in the past week for competing immuno-oncology regimens from Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and AstraZeneca PLC.
Overall, Merck reported sales of $12.4bn for the third quarter as its vaccines business, headed up by the HPV preventative Gardasil, grew 17% to more than $2.4bn. Gardasil posted sales of $1.32bn, up 26% from one year earlier
