Merck & Co. Pushes Back On Modest Projections For Verquvo

Merck & Co., Inc.'s newly approved chronic heart failure drug Verquvo (vericiguat) will launch into a competitive therapy area and some analysts expect the soluble guanylate cyclase (sGC) stimulator will get off to a slow commercial start, partly due to modest efficacy and partly to its narrow indication – though Merck & Co. believes the drug’s novel mechanism of action offers a valuable new option.

Verquvo was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration on 20 January to reduce risk of cardiovascular death and heart failure re-hospitalization in patients with symptomatic chronic heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) up to 45%, who have been hospitalized or need intravenous diuretic therapy. Merck & Co., partnered with Germany’s Bayer AG on the drug, noted that Verquvo is the first drug approved in the US for that specific indication