The pandemic increased sales of Merck medicines during the first quarter as households around the world stocked up, but the drugmaker expects a significant hit this quarter as the full force of the outbreak is registered
By
LINDA A. JOHNSON AP Medical Writer
April 28, 2020, 12:20 PM
3 min read
3 min read
Share to FacebookShare to TwitterEmail this articleThe pandemic increased sales of Merck medicines during the first quarter as households around the world stocked up, but the drugmaker expects a significant hit this quarter as the full force of the outbreak lands.
Merck & Co. anticipates 2020 prescription drug sales will fall by $1.7 billion because the pandemic is keeping many patients with chronic conditions away from their doctors. About two-thirds of Merck’s medicine sales are for injected drugs administered by a doctor, from its blockbuster Keytruda and its portfolio of vaccines, to birth control implant Implanon and an anesthetic used in surgical procedures.
The company lowered its outlook for the year Tuesday despite an 11% revenue jump and a profit increase of 10% in the most recent quarter.
It expects sales of its veterinary medicines to dip by $400 million.
Merck now expects full-year earnings per share of $5.17 to $5.37, excluding one-time items, down from its January forecast of $5.62 to $5.77 per share. The company now expects revenue of $46.1 billion to $48.1 billion, down from the January forecast for $48.8 billion to $50.3 billion.
The Kenilworth, New Jersey, drugmaker said its medicine factories and research labs have been operating normally, and it has six to 12 months of product inventory, so it doesn’t foresee shortages of its medicines.
The company also is working alone and in multiple collaborations on finding potential anti-infective drugs and vaccines, both areas where Merck has a long, successful history.
Merck reported net income of $3.22 billion, or $1.26 per share, up from $2.92 billion, or $1.12 per share, a year earlier. Adjusted earnings came to $1.50 per share, beating Wall Street expectations for earnings of $1.39 per share, according to a survey by Zacks Investment Research.
Revenue totaled $12.06 billion, up from $10.82 billion in 2019's first quarter. Prescription drug sales totaled $10.66 billion, with $3.28 billion of that coming from Keytruda alone.
Veterinary medicine sales were $1.21 billion, up 18%.
Merck has been remaking itself by shedding some parts of the company to focus on its lucrative cancer drug business, veterinary medicines, vaccines and hospital medicines.
The company has already pushed back the timing of its planned spinoff of its women’s health segment, some older medicines and its business selling biosimilars, or near-copies of complex biologic drugs made inside living cells. That was originally planned to happen by mid-year but has been postponed until Sept. 30
———
Follow Linda A. Johnson at https://twitter.com/LindaJ—onPharma
———
A portion of this story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on DTE at https://www.zacks.com/ap/DTE
