Merck & Co. CMO Eliav Barr Assures On Pipeline As Keytruda LOE Looms Large

Chief medical officer Eliav Barr, responsible for overseeing clinical development, talked to Scrip in an interview at Merck’s headquarters about the company’s pipeline diversification.

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Key Takeaways
  • Merck & Co. chief medical officer Eliav Barr updates Scrip on the company’s portfolio diversification strategy.
  • In the first part of a two-part story, Barr outlines the company’s cardio-metabolic expansion, including enlicitide and newly in-licensed assets like an oral Lp(a) inhibitor and a GLP-1 agonist.
  • Longer-term, the company is vying to bring oral drug combinations to market, but the categories are all competitive.

Investors are acutely focused on the loss of exclusivity (LOE) of Merck & Co.’s mega-blockbuster Keytruda (pembrolizumab) in 2028, but head of global clinical development and chief medical officer Eliav...

Cancer remains core to Merck’s portfolio, but the company has made big investments over the last three years in other areas as well, with an emphasis on cardiovascular disease, immunology...

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