Merck & Co. Heads Into A Year Of Portfolio Expansion

Merck & Co., Inc.’s portfolio diversification strategy is expected to begin bearing fruit this year, with the company preparing for several new drug and vaccine launches in 2024. Merck expects a new 21-valent pneumococcal vaccine V116, the activin-signaling inhibitor sotatercept for pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), and the antibody-drug conjugate patritumab deruxtecan for metastatic EGFR-mutated non-small cell lung cancer to begin contributing to revenue in the second half of the year, if those products are approved as expected.

Sotatercept and patritumab deruxtecan both came from Merck’s business development initiative, largely aimed at diversifying the company away from its mega-blockbuster Keytruda (pembrolizumab). Sotatercept was acquired with the $11.5bn acquisition of Acceleron Pharma, Inc. in 2021 and patritumab deruxtecan was in-licensed through a $4bn upfront deal with Daiichi Sankyo Co., Ltd. last year for three ADCs. (Also see "Merck’s $11.5bn Acceleron Buy Partially Fills Future Keytruda Revenue Gap" - Scrip, 30 September, 2021